Unknown Heroes
by Niela32792
Summary: This is a genderflipped-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up.
1. Chapter 1 - Unexpected Beginnings

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. The semi will be self-explanatory within this first chapter, I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 1 - Unexpected Beginnings**

-STORY BEGINS-

What is the nature of the self? Until the end, I never really had thought about it. I just lived life as anyone did, day by day. To be honest, my end could have been foreseen, but really, I doubt I would've lived my life any differently. Now that it's over, I fully expected to go on to heaven, or to purgatory, or whatever the afterlife was. See, what happened was I was at a Boy Scout outing, trying to teach a bunch of newbie Scouts about water safety. Well, that didn't turn out well. I ended up dying. Kinda the opposite of water safety! Talk about ironic. Not that it was the Scouts' fault, it was an accident. I doubt even the driver of the boat that we were pulled behind could have guessed that a raft could swing out that far. Last thing I remembered was seeing the metal boat dock coming up quickly. I shoved the scouts to the far side of the raft as I dove between them and the dock. I looked up again, saw the gleam of the metal siding, then everything went black.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my eyes again. I blinked sleep and sluggishness from my eyes, trying to shake my head. I couldn't move it. Unsurprising. My vision started to clear, my instincts searching for some recognizable sight. White or overhead lights, the smell of disinfectant. Something that would tell me where I was. What I didn't expect to see was a face that was way too large to be human. Huge, looming, leaning over me. The features were feminine and Asian, and as my eyes moved around to look at my surroundings, I noticed the woman seemed to be wearing some sort of medical coat. My immediate thought was " _Hey maybe I am not dead, maybe they were able to bring me back."_ I opened my mouth, but instead of words, a high-pitched screaming cry escaped from me. The sound itself shocked me into silence. I must be really awful if all I could do was scream. The woman started to wrap me up in a huge, bright pink blanket. It was so warm and comforting, I couldn't help falling back asleep as she tucked the edges underneath me. The questions that flooded my mind could wait. Things would make more sense after I woke up.

When I woke up, it was dark out. I realized that I was on my back, facing the ceiling. I tried to move my arms, my fingers, even a toe, but it seemed that I had been paralyzed by that accident. Not even a toe could twitch. I tried to talk again, but that wordless screaming cry was all that came out. " _This is starting to annoy me._ " As I tried to make a list of what I saw or what I could do, I felt my eyes start to close again. " _How can I be tired again?!_ " But no matter how hard I fought the feeling, sleep overcame me and I passed out again.

The next few "day(s)" were very boring. My time was spent lying there on my back, or being carried by these huge women around an unbelievably large room. I slept most of the time. There was some crying each time I attempted to talk to those women, which usually resulted being flipped about in their arms to be draped over one of their shoulders, and thumped on the center of my back. But the most embarrassing part of those days, more so than the carrying or the crying, was the first time they fed me. They held this bottle over me that looked like a baby bottle. " _What kind of hospital is this?_ " They must have seen the something on my face, as they looked quizzically between the bottle and me a few times, but what the hell? I was so hungry that I swallowed my pride and sucked on the bottle.

After those few days, I was awoken by a new person picking me up. A giant of a man smiled gently at me as he hefted me into his arms. He rocked me gently as he began to walk with me. He had black hair, dark and kind eyes, and wore a headband with a shiny metal plate with a weird symbol on it. His olive green vest was rough when it brushed against my cheek, but as he was doing his best to hold me properly and to support my head. ( _After being carried these last few days I found that yeah muscle control was out of the question. My head rolled around, my arms were practically useless, and my legs could only twitch when I tried to move them. It seemed that the only thing I could do was eat, sleep, cry, oh, and the nasty thing that happens when one partakes of food._ ) I was, oddly enough, taken from my white room by this man and the women all waved us goodbye. I was confused, but I was in no state to argue. Except for a pathetic screaming cry which did nothing to deter him.

As we exited the building, I realized that we were in ( _what I would call_ ) a large town or a small city that **had** to have built by hand. The dirt road he was walking down was like what I had seen in those old wild west films and the shops and buildings were equally constructed but with a more eastern look. The one thing I could say was this place was busy, it must have been a town that probably needed to have some massive renovation but it was all well kept. After a several minutes of him walking with me in his arms, he stopped to talk to someone else. He even moved me off his shoulder to a cradle hold, which was even more embarrassing, to what I could tell was show me off to this person. This man he was showing me off to was also wearing a olive green vest and a copy of that headband. If I had to have made a guess they had to be related, because beyond some facial features, they could have been twins. It was a bit disconcerting.

After a few minutes, he continued on his walk, past a wall, through an archway that had a different symbol on it, this one was like a, well, pokè ball with a tail downwards with the red on the top and white on the bottom. I was thoroughly confused at this point and reflexively cried out. The man moved me back to a shoulder carry and patted my back, saying something in a language I couldn't understand at all, though sounded vaguely familiar. He carried me to a house and from what I could hear knocked on the door. After a few seconds the door was clearly opened as he moved forward into the house.

The man handed me off to a woman, who also had that raven black hair. God, she was _beautiful_. I envied this man to have someone like that to come home to every day. She carried me to a small room, cooing and smiling down at me. She then laid me down, and at that point I noticed I was in a crib. It was very clearly a crib. Realization is a hard wall to run into. Almost as hard as a metal dock. " _OH GOD, I_ _AM_ _A BABY! REINCARNATION IS A THING?!"_

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also wish to give thanks to** **frodoschick** **on co-writing specifically with the grammar and conversation writing.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Growing Pains

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 2 - Growing Pains**

Okay, first off, I don't remember what it was like growing up as a baby the first time around, but _wow_. Now I know why babies cry so much! No body control, no energy - this sucks! Sometimes, it even feels like your body is on fire. Your range of vision is not that far - maybe a half a dozen feet or so. You're constantly hungry, and you have to rely on others for _everything_. This has to be the most boring thing ever, the life of a baby. Thankfully, it seems that this body requires a ton of sleep as it seems that I sleep most of the time.

The man who I assume is my father in this life seems to have a steady job that allows him to come home regularly. I rather like that. The lady who is my mother seems to be a stay-at-home mother, just like my previous one. It's always good to have someone there constantly; I didn't think that I'd be as lonely as I am, but every time my new mother or father leave the room, I have this overwhelming sense of panic and abandonment and my little baby mouth screams and screams until they come running back.

Over the next few weeks, ( _I guess, it's hard to tell with this absurd sleep schedule,_ ) I can hear them talking to each other, and, of course, to me. If I had to hazard a guess as to the language, it has to be Japanese, or something Asiatic. It's very similar to the language that was in that anime I watched that one summer when I was a counselor at the Boy Scout camp. I think it was called Ranma ½. Not that I was a big anime fan in my life, I mean, I watched some every once in a while on the late night cartoon channel, but those were clearly voiced over. In any case, I could tell that I was clearly in an Asian culture. I just wasn't so sure about _where_ in the world that I was. I was never good at geography in school. I couldn't remember anything about a place like this, but then again, I was rarely being taken out of the house.

When they talked or cooed at me, the one word that was almost always present was the word _Kamiko_ so I guess that was my new name, as weird as it was to think that I had a new name. I just hoped I would never hear the name _Scott_ ever again, or I would probably answer! As time ticked on, and the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. I started to be more awake than asleep, but that ever present feeling of being on fire internally was very annoying. But it slowly became less less of _OH GOD I AM ON FIRE!_ and more of _boy do I itch everywhere_. I was slowly able to ignore it most of the time, but on the rare occasion when I couldn't, I had to cry. I still couldn't speak, it seemed that my vocal cords were still underdeveloped.

After what felt like months, I had finally gained enough control of my neck muscles to be able to look around. It was so nice to finally be able to look where I wanted to look and not have my muscles betray me constantly. But, of course, this awesome new change had to come with the expense of another shock. I know they have to change my cloth diaper because of course I'm not " _potty-trained_ " but this is the first time I've been clearly able to watch without my head rolling around, and well, I was shocked to see that...well, I didn't have my usual _equipment_. I was not only a baby and had to go through growing up again, but now, I also had to go through all of this as a girl. " _GOD WHY DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP THROWING CURVEBALLS AT ME?"_ All the pink that I had been seeing made more sense now, and in hindsight, I should have guessed it. But still! This will take some getting used to but I guess there was nothing I could do about it. What or who could I complain to? No-body, that's goddamned right.

Shortly after I gained control of my head, they started to try to teach me to crawl. This was very frustrating. I just couldn't make my limbs do what I knew they had to do. After all, I already knew how to walk, how to run! And yet, I can't manage a damn crawl. Embarrassing. After a few weeks of this, I was finally able to crawl around the room. I was slowly getting over this frustration. While my new parents had other plans for me, I decided that the next milestone I wanted to master was speech. Up to this point, the only things that came out of my mouth were cries or baby gurgles. After years of talking, not being able to was possibly the most frustrating thing about this new life. Time to try to say more than "blaheeeopst".

-Time Skip to 2 years old-

It felt like forever, but I was finally two years old. At this point I had mastered crawling, walking, even running. Basic words and sentences in this new language were harder than I had anticipated. And today was the day! I was finally leaving the house! Sure, it was only to go to a park down the street with my mother, but still! It was out of the house!

I practically skipped as my mother walked me down the paths, relishing the sun and fresh air. The park itself was very different from the parks that I remembered from my previous life. It only had a swing and a grassy field, but there were a ton of kids running around and playing some sort of game. I watched shyly from behind my mother's back. It took some coaxing from her to go over to the swing. She lifted me up to sit on the wooden seat and she began to slowly swing me back and forth. I started to swing myself higher and higher. My mother smiled brightly at how quickly I took to the swing, thanks to my old world knowledge.

As I swung there I looked around at the other kids. I couldn't help thinking about how odd it was to see nothing but black and unusually colored hair on the other children. It was so different from the mostly brown and blonde haired children from my memories. I couldn't help but think about the many, many times I had played on a swing set much like this one with a brown-haired little brother. Memories were so conflicting. I was so distracted in my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed a little boy come up to me while I was swinging.

"You wants to come play ninjas withs us?" the boy asked. His grin and air of confidence were quite infectious.

"Ummm ninja?" I asked while I furrowed my eyes questioningly. I had never heard of this game. I knew what a ninja was, but how did it relate to a game?

"You never play ninja?" The boy exclaimed in surprise, "well, guess you be on my team, cousin."

I just blankly stared at the older boy, he was maybe three? By this point in my new life, I was starved for social interaction, so I wasn't going to turn it down. He _said_ he was my cousin. I couldn't help but wonder if that was true, but he didn't really give me time to contemplate this. He tapped his foot impatiently, huffing at me. My mother smiled at me and nodded encouragingly.

"O-Okay I will try, g-got to tell rules," I stuttered out, jumping down from the swing. Certain sentences were a chore to say. If this was English, I could talk circles around him, but this language not so much.

"Cool, name is Jetti," he said as we walked towards the group of children. I glanced back at my mom, but turned back to him as he asked me what my name was.

"Umm, Kamiko," I say as he got my attention back. I bit my lip then questioned, "Cousin?"

"Yeah, we cousins!" he quickly said right before we got to the group.

I quickly learned the rules to this game, it was similar to what I remembered as cops and robbers but with different names. I stunk at it. I wasn't very fast, and was one of the youngest. But I enjoyed it a lot more than I would have guessed. A few of the older kids said something about the academy in passing but I didn't have much time think much about it.

About thirty or more minutes later, I was exhausted so I excused myself from the game and walking slowly back to my mother. As we walked back home, ( _the park was thankfully not far from the house_ ) she asked, "did you enjoy playing ninja with the other kids?"

"Uh-huh," I answered honestly, "but they sorted us o-oddly."

"How so, sweetie?" she inquired with a worried look.

"Two girls on our team, two girls on theirs," I responded with a curious look on my face, "why?"

"Ah," she smiled down at me, "that's to make the teams fair. In the world of ninja, kunoichi are usually weaker physically to ninja."

I was glad that she answered honestly, but it was a bit worrisome to hear that I was not seen as equal to the others. Since I had been brought up in my previous life to ask a lot of questions, I was glad that my new mother was encouraging with my questions and always answered me honestly. I shuffled my feet as we walked before voicing my next question.

"Ummm, mommy, are ninja real?" I asked hesitantly, really hoping that they were not and that it was only a game.

"Of course they are, sweetie," she chuckled, squeezing my hand, "I'm one, as well as your daddy. He is what the village calls a Chuunin, and I am a Genin." She continued to list the ranks of different ninja and what their roles were in our society. They were the cornerstone of this village and from what I could understand, the whole world. Ninja are the protectors of our society. From what I could hear in her voice, it almost sounded like she was explaining my destiny to me. Did she expect me to be a ninja too? I bit my lip as we went home. I'd have to pick up my own training schedule if my role in life was to be a ninja. I couldn't get tired after thirty minutes of running around. After all, ninja sounded awesome. I had to be the same.

-Time Skip to 3 years old-

Since that day, I'd been back to the park to play more with Jetti and the others, and got fairly good at the ninja game. It wasn't like me to brag, my mom did that for me. She would tell my dad all the time about how the team leaders fought over who got to have me on their team. At night, I begged and puppy-dog-eyed both my parents as much as possible for either of them to read me stories about ninja or explain more about them. And I knew how to milk those puppy-dog-eyes for all they were worth. I think I was starting to worry them about my interest in ninja, but I had to sort out what was real and what wasn't. It wouldn't do to live in this society expecting some cheesy Hollywood like effects or characterizations. What was real? My parents probably thought I was a precocious child, and told me everything that they could. Every night was full of stories from my mother's time at the academy and my father's missions.

The talk about chakra got me very confused. When I asked them to be more specific, they explained that all ninja and civilians have chakra. However, ninja were more capable of using it, and like anything that you practice, the more you use it, the more you have. I learned that chakra was made up of both physical and spiritual energy, and it flows throughout the body, replenishing muscles, and enhancing a ninja's natural abilities. They told me that if a ninja practiced a lot and had a lot of chakra, then they could use special abilities, called techniques.

"What is a technique?" I asked really wondering if this was like those video games I used to play.

"Let us go out back sweetie," my mom answered when I asked that question.

She showed me a very basic technique, according to her, that shot a fireball out of her mouth at a target dummy that my parents had set up in the back yard. As the fireball hit the dummy it caught on fire before she put it out with a bucket of water that always sat by the back door. Now, in hindsight, the bucket of water that sat there made more sense.

"Now, Kamiko, that is one of our clan's basic techniques," she said proudly, "and, one day you will master this too. It is a sign that you are truly an Uchiha."

"Whats an Uchiha?" I asked questioningly staring up at my mom's smiling face.

As she beamed down at me with a broad smile, and I could tell that I was going to be buried with stories on my clan. The thought made my heart pound with glee.

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also wish to give thanks to** **frodoschick** **on co-writing specifically with the grammar and conversation writing.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Hard Lessons

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 3 - Hard Lessons**

Thoughts of ninja and my clan inspired me so much that I was itching to try techniques out, but at four years old, my parents insisted I was still too young. So, I worked on physically training myself. I thought this might look odd to my parents, so I tried to do it when they were not paying attention. This usually meant after dinner, when I was out in the backyard "playing." I ran laps while it was still light out, practiced stances and quick hand movements, and always did some sit-ups in my room until mommy came to tuck me in. As much as I wanted to push harder, I knew it wouldn't do me any good. _Stupid, weak four-year-old body. Grow up already!_ Well, I thought I was being sneaky, anyway. I really should have expected that I, with my four-year-old brain, wouldn't be able to outsmart two adult shinobi parents, whether or not I remembered being twenty-one.

One day at the park, I spotted a girl about my age who lingered at the outskirts, staring at our ongoing game of Ninja. She had pure white hair like freshly fallen snow, and was accompanied by a teenager who looked like an older version of her. Most of the kids who came to this park were Uchiha, so these two stood out among the sea of black-haired, black-eyed children. During one of the breaks between games I walked over to them.

"Hey, you want to join us in playing Ninja?" I asked, trying to be polite while eyeing her up and down. She had these eyes that were a disturbing purplish-white all over, with no pupils that I could see, and hair, which looked pure white at a distance, turned out to be white with a slight tinge of very light blue running through it.

The girl looked up at her caretaker with an eagerness in her eyes and her body buzzed with anxious energy as she practically pleaded, "May I join them, Hanabi?"

The teen eyed me with a look that seemed to go right through me, then gazed out at the rest of the kids I was playing with. With a firm nod she said, "Yes, but do try not to get too messy. You know how your father is about messes in the house."

 _If she's that worried about messes, maybe she shouldn't have her wear so much white,_ I thought. _I mean, come on, we are kids._ Putting those thoughts aside, I turned to the girl. "Hi," I said, grinning at her, "my name's Kamiko. What's yours?"

"I-Iroha..." she mumbled, looking down and tapping her pointer fingers together nervously. "Hyūga Iroha."

"Pleased to meet ya, Iroha-chan! Come on, let's play!" I grabbed her free hand and dragged her over to the group. "Hey guys," I yelled, "I got another one to play with us!" I smiled at her as I said, "She can be on my team."

She played Ninja with us for the next hour or so. She hesitated a lot at first, clearly not used to this kind of game, but smiling and laughing all the same as she got the hang of it. In what seemed like no time at all, Hanabi approached us as the latest game was winding up. "Iroha-chan, we need to go. I have to get started on dinner soon."

"Dinner, already?," I asked, confused. "The sun's not even halfway down yet!"

Hanabi wore a resigned smile on her face as she replied, "Hioshi-sama is very particular about these things. Say good-night to your friend, Iroha-chan."

"Good night, Kamiko-chan," she said, looking a bit deflated.

"Good night, Iroha-chan!" I replied. "See you again tomorrow?"

Iroha turned to her guardian with a heartbreakingly eager look. "May I?"

A ghost of a frown flitted over Hanabi's face before it was replaced by a patient smile. "I'll have to ask Hioshi-sama, but I don't see why not."

Iroha's face lit up as she turned back to me. "See you tomorrow!"

I smirked wider in reply. "Yeah, tomorrow!" The two turned and left, Iroha skipping along and Hanabi following patiently in her wake.

-Time Skip to 6 years old-

While Iroha didn't come back every day, she was there often. She quickly became one of my best friends; she was odd, but I think I liked her style of odd. She was very polite, always careful to ask Hanabi for permission to do just about anything. At the same time, though, I got the feeling she was going to do whatever she wanted, whether she got permission or not. Hanabi seemed to realize this, and okayed anything that didn't seem immediately dangerous. I also discovered what her being a Hyūga meant, and about the bitter rivalry between our clans. I didn't let this stop me, of course, or even slow me down. Nobody told me who I could be friends with in my previous life, and I wasn't about to let that happen this time, either. Iroha seemed to always be a little down when she arrived, but as soon as we started playing Ninja, a smile would appear, which always brought a smile to my face. Making my friend smile was wonderful.

One day, I was running a little later than normal to go play in the park. By this point, I had proved I was responsible enough to go to the park by myself. Earlier, I had made a bit of a mess in my room and my mom said I had to clean it up before I could go out to play. _Two do-overs, what a pain!_ I was running to the park so that I would not miss out on the second game; I knew for a fact that I missed at least the first one, what with all that cleaning I had to do. As I turned the corner I got a good view of the park. The kids were all in a circle and oddly there were no parents in sight; I couldn't even see Hanabi. I looked quickly around searching for Iroha, she said she would be there that day, but I couldn't see her anywhere. So, feeling a little sad, I jogged over to the group. As I approached, I noticed they were huddled close, blocking my view of whatever it was they were kicking. I shouted towards them, "Hey, what's up?"

Some of them paused briefly at this, glancing over their shoulders at me, but a few of the older kids continued to kick. _I've got a bad feeling about this._ As I got even closer I was able to recognize the white hair in the center of the group. _What the hell? That's Iroha!_ I began to run as fast as I could, heart pounding as a high-pitched sound filled my ears. _How could they attack anyone like this? She has done nothing to deserve this!_ I charged at the group, fury burning in my eyes. I screamed, "Get away from her! Stop kicking her!"

As I closed the distance I threw a straight left jab at one of the older kids' jaw and tackled him to the ground. Thankfully, even with the limited amount of physical training I had done, I was deceptively strong, which caught him off-guard — that's what I told myself, anyway... As we hit the ground I rolled off him, and quickly dove over Iroha's body, shielding her. I glared up at the group in a show of bravado, hoping my nerves didn't show. _This is ridiculous, I'm the smallest kid here! There's no way they're going to back off!_ Still, I dug my fingers into the dirt, determined to keep shielding her, no matter what they might do to me. They would have to pry my dead body off of her. I even threw in a snarl for good measure.

For some reason, though, they all paused and took a step back in fear. I snarled at them again, and they continued to back away as one group. My breaths shuddered in my lungs, still glaring at them. Suddenly, one of them screamed, "She has the Sharingan!"

 _Sharingan? What's that? Is that what's scaring them?_

At that point, it was like a dam breaking; they all scattered, stumbling in their haste to leave the park as quickly as possible. I stared at them, blinking rapidly as my anger eased out of my muscles. I got up off of Iroha, shaking my head in confusion, and offered a hand to help her up. She smacked it away, "Don't bother," she said coldly, "I don't need the pity of an Uchiha."

I was flabbergasted by this. "Pity? What are you talking about? I helped you because you're my _friend_! It's got nothing to do with us being Uchiha and Hyūga!"

She turned her head to stare at me then, and I almost took a step back as she pinned me with that same soul-penetrating gaze that I had seen from Hanabi that first day, only stronger. Her suspicious glare softened to confusion as I stood there, meeting her eyes, and then her face melted in disbelief. "You...actually mean that, don't you? You actually fought your own kin, and seriously enough to turn on your bloodline ability."

I blinked, confused by the sudden turn. "My what?"

"Your eyes," she said, gesturing to my face with one hand. "I'm not an Uchiha, so I don't know much, but I do know that the Sharingan only awakens in the heat of battle. Like, serious, life-or-death stuff, not some stupid kid fight," she continued, her eyes and voice going watery with emotion. "Some part of you thought you might seriously get hurt bad enough to d-die, but you..." she swallowed, gulping back tears. "You stayed, and fought them anyway. F-For me..." she stopped, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of a muddy hand. "Nobody cares that much about me."

"I do," I said. I said it without thinking, but I realized it was the truth. "You're my friend, Iroha-chan, and I stand by my friends."

She lunged for me, and I flinched before I realized that it wasn't an attack, but a hug. She held onto me hard enough to hurt, letting all her pain out in desperate sobs. I tried to comfort her as best I could, but saying things like "It's alright," and "I'm here for you," only seemed to make her cry harder. Eventually, I just settled for returning the hug, letting her soak my shoulder with tears and snot. I got pretty watery-eyed myself, but managed to keep it under control.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. It felt like about a hundred years, but probably wasn't more than few minutes. Hanabi came into view then, and rushed over to us so fast I would have sworn she teleported. It wasn't that, obviously; I could see her moving, but it was impressive all the same.

She didn't tense up or anything, but something about the way she was looking at me said _ready for violence_ in a way I couldn't quite pin down. "Iroha-chan? What happened? Are you hurt?"

Iroha hiccuped, sniffed, and turned to look at her. "N-no, I'm f-f-fine. N-not hurt, just up-" Sniff, _snort_ , cough. "-upset," she finished, glancing at me sheepishly as she relaxed her death grip and sat down next to me.

Something in Hanabi relaxed at that, and she turned to regard me directly. "Kamiko-chan? Would you mind telling me what happened?"

I flinched a little at the intensity of her gaze. _Somehow, I don't think it would be smart to say "no"._ "S-sure, no problem." I sat back, wincing as one of the bruises on my upper thigh reminded me of its presence. "I was a little late getting here today, Mommy made me stay and clean up the mess I made. When I got here, I didn't see you or Iroha-chan at first, just a bunch of kids all huddled in one corner of the park, right about here." I gestured to the ground around us, which was filled with scuff marks and sandal prints. "When I got closer, I saw they had Iroha-chan in the middle, and were punching and kicking her. She was fighting back pretty hard, I think, I saw bruises and busted noses on at least half of the kids. But, there were, like, a dozen of them, and bigger than us too." I shrugged, then continued. "I wasn't really thinking, I just got mad when I saw them doing that to her, so I ran in and tried to protect her. One of the kids yelled something about a Sha-ring-dan or something, and then they all got scared, and ran away."

"Sharingan," Hanabi corrected mildly, giving me a look I didn't know how to interpret. "It's the name of your clan's Bloodline Limit ability. It's similar to our Byakugan in some ways; it gives you sharper eyesight, and some ability to read your opponent's micro-expressions to gauge intent. Supposedly it has other properties as well, but that information is a closely guarded clan secret, of course," As she was saying this, she pulled out a makeup compact, flipped it open, and handed it to me. "Here, have a look."

I stared at my reflection. My eyes, which were normally a brown so dark it looked black, had turned completely blood red. There was a thin black ring in the iris, about halfway between the pupil and the white, and on that line was a black, comma-shaped spot, one in each eye.

"Whoa!" I stared in shock, and as I did the red faded to black. I turned to look at her again. "Do your eyes turn red like that too?"

"No," she said. As she spoke, the veins around her eyes bulged, and her irises seemed to contract, but her eyes stayed that same purplish-white. "Our ability shows itself somewhat less obviously." She relaxed, and the bulges faded. "For now, though, I think we should focus on getting the two of you cleaned up."

I glanced at my left shoulder, which was crusted with dried snot and tears. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." I handed her back the compact. "We have bandages and stuff at my house," I proffered as I got up and gingerly reached out again with my off hand to Iroha, "if you want. I think it's closer than the Hyūga compound?" I said, uncertainly.

"It is. Your mother won't mind?" Hanabi asked pointedly.

I nodded. Clearly I was still on probation with the Hyūga teen. "Mommy says I should ask before inviting people over, but I don't think she'll mind this time." I stood up, helping Iroha to her feet. "Come on, it's this way."

We were quiet for the few minutes it took to walk to my house. Once there, I quickly ran up the few steps and through the door. I kicked off my shoes as I yelled, "Mommy, I am home, and I brought Iroha-chan and Hanabi-san. We need some help."

My mom came into view and her face fell as she looked at us. "My goodness, what happened to you?" She motioned to Iroha and Hanabi, "Hyūga-san, please, come in and sit down. Kami-chan, go dump that shirt in the laundry basket and fetch the first aid kit."

I nodded and ran off to do that. I came back less than a minute later with a fresh shirt on and a large white box marked with a red cross in my hands. Iroha was seated quietly at the kitchen table, a juice cup and plate of manjuu next to her. Hanabi knelt down in front of her, peering at her closely, one hand tilting Iroha's face this way and that as she examined different bruises and cuts. I set the box on the table near her, and the Hyūga teen nodded, opening it up and pulling out the bandages and ointment. As Hanabi worked, Iroha explained what had happened to my mother. Her face went from upset to angry to complete shock, then finally to fury and tears as she heard what had happened. _Mommy's always so expressive._ During this, I went around the table and sat next to Iroha. As I sat down, my vision dimmed as I spaced out for a moment, feeling so tired I nearly fainted. When I came to, I saw that another juice cup and manjuu plate had appeared in front of me. My stomach growled at the smell, and I fell on the sweets like a starving wolf. Once Hanabi had finished bandaging her up, Iroha attacked her plate with equal vigor.

"Well," my mother said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. "I won't say you were wrong to stand up for your friend, but next time something like this happens, you grab your friend and run, do you understand?"

 _Oh come on, we were surrounded! I was doing good just to hold my ground!_ I was opening my mouth to voice my protest, but the steel in her eyes made me change my mind. "Yes, mommy," I tried my best to look meek and obedient. Her level look told me I wasn't very successful.

Hanabi turned to my mother and dipped her head in respect. "Thank you, Uchiha-san, for your assistance. I apologize for the rudeness, but we must be going. We are expected at the family compound."

"Of course, I understand," Mom nodded, and moved to lead them to the front entrance. I got up too and followed. For a moment, the two white-haired girls stood side by side. Iroha bowed politely and said, "Thank you, Uchiha-san, for your hospitality."

Mom beamed at that, and said "Of course, Iroha-chan, you're welcome to come over any time! I do hope we won't need the first aid kit on your next visit though." Iroha nodded, and giggled a bit at that.

She turned to me then, and hopped over to give me a bone-crushing hug. "Thanks, Kami-chan, for everything." Before I could respond, she pulled back, and in an eyeblink she was the proper Hyūga lady again. She and Hanabi bowed in sync once more, and left.

That night my parents sat me down at the family table and asked me some rather pointed questions. At first I thought I was in trouble, but they explained that the kids I had fought off had complained to their parents, claiming I was the bully and that I had punched one of them.

"I'm not saying I believe them," my father explained, "but I would like to hear the whole story from you." After I gave him a full explanation, he smiled and said, "You did the right thing, honey. Don't you worry, I'll talk to the clan elders and smooth this whole thing out.". His expression changed then, becoming more serious. "Do you think you could show me your Sharingan?"

I frowned in consternation. "I...how do I do that? It just kind of happened on its own."

He responded, "Focus on your eyes, think about trying to see every detail of what's in front of you."

I sat there a few seconds trying to do just that, and after what seemed like an eternity the world suddenly went all crystal clear and I could see colors and things I normally ignored or didn't notice. I saw him smile and mom tear up as they moved to hug me from both sides.

I didn't see Iroha for about a week after that, which had me moping around the house in truly dramatic style, so much so I refused to go play in the park when my mommy proffered the idea. What finally brought me out of my funk was receiving a letter from her. It said she wasn't allowed back to that park, but she could play with me either at her place or mine. I literally jumped for joy on hearing that, whooping and cheering and startling the neighborhood cats that were lounging in our back yard.

Dad folded the letter, smiling tolerantly at my display. "So, does that mean I can call off the funeral march?"

"Daa~d!" I grumbled at him, too happy at the news to be more than a little grumpy at him.

"I'll let Hyūga-san know that Iroha-chan can come over to play tomorrow," Mom said, also smiling. "But only if you finish cleaning your room tonight!"

I practically left a vapor trail dashing upstairs, and I swear that room was never cleaned so fast, before or since.

-Time skip to 7 years old-

Over the next year Iroha and I did some light training with either Hanabi or my mother, usually in our good sized back yard. They agreed that we should learn to be able to defend ourselves properly but hesitated when we talked about entering the academy early. "Seven years old is early enough, I think," my dad said, when I asked him about it over dinner one evening. "Things have been peaceful of late, so there's no need to rush." I groaned, but I knew better than to complain; nothing I said would change their minds at this point..

Dad spent more time with me in the evenings after he got home from work, teaching me about the Sharingan. What I had unlocked that day at the park was apparently only the first stage, which granted me sharper focus and improved peripheral vision. The second stage would help me to perceive more details, and enable the copying of another person's movements. The third stage would supposedly let me see chakra directly, which got me really excited.

"I have to say, Kamiko, you really surprised me that day when you unlocked the Sharingan. Not many women in our clan manage to do that, though most of the men do."

I frowned, "Is this another of those ' _women are weaker_ ' things?"

"No, honey." He ruffled my hair with one hand, leaning down to kiss me on the forehead. "We honestly don't know why it ends up that way; it has nothing to do with your strength as a ninja." He sat back and sighed a little. "We do tend to encourage our girls to pick up med-nin training, which puts them in a back-line role more often than not. Maybe that has some influence on it. Regardless, you do have it unlocked, and your mother and I are both very proud of you." I beamed at that. "We're also very proud of you for standing up for your friend like you did, that day at the park. It takes courage to do what's right, especially when everybody around you is doing wrong." His forehead wrinkled a bit as he said that last part, like he was thinking of something unpleasant. After a moment, his expression cleared, and he looked at me directly. "I have no doubt that you'll grow up to be a fine shinobi, one that we can all be proud of."

I grinned cockily at that. "Just you wait, Dad, I'll be the best ninja in the whole clan! No, the whole village!"

"I'm sure you will," he said, smiling as he ruffled my hair again. "I'm sure you will."

-Scene Change-

My previous life had been very peaceful, and with more and more of the heavy lifting being done by machines, the ability gap between men and women had seemed almost entirely irrelevant. No such luck in this life. People still did most things by hand, and a large portion of the village was made up of trained soldiers.

I'm not sure if it was an actual difference in this world, or if I was just more aware of it as a girl, but either way, it was a fact of life that wasn't going away anytime soon. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though, or even really slow me down. So what if they said girls couldn't be as strong? That's just one more thing I'd prove them wrong about.

This year was jam packed with physical training with Iroha and Sharingan training from my dad. He also began to train me in the basics of fire jutsu: not any of the techniques just yet, but he taught me how to channel my fire chakra. He said that if I got into the academy, he would begin to teach me the Great Fireball technique.

One evening, Dad surprised me by saying that we had been summoned to see the clan elders. "Do you know what they want to talk to us about?" I asked.

He looked pensive. "I have an idea, but I'm not certain. I don't want to fill your head with maybes and mights, so I won't say. Just get your formal kimono out, and be ready to come with me tomorrow evening when I get home from work."

"O-kay..." I replied, hesitantly.

Mom smiled, and tried to reassure me. "Don't worry, honey, I'm sure it's fine. Just be polite to the elders and it'll be over before you know it!" I smiled back, but inside I wasn't sure how much I believed her.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also wish to give thanks to frodoschick and Halbyrd on co-writing specifically with the grammar and conversation writing.

 **Author's note: Kamiko had the Sharingan unlocked since birth due to the circumstances of her death in her previous life. The park incident was just the first time that she had triggered it, due to the righteous anger. If anyone wants more info on this PM me about it. Also of note, Hanabi is an OC that was created for this story.**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Academy

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.

Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

 _"Inner thoughts and speech"_

 _"INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

Chapter 4 - The Academy

I was glad my Dad took today off to accompany me to the clan leaders. Mommy got me all dressed up which consisted of a dark blue kimono dress with the Uchiha symbol on the front and a black obi tied around my waist. She also fancied up my hair in a style that was both elegant and sturdy, so I could be prepared for everything. I was so nervous; What if they think I'm not ready to enter but Iroha is deemed ready by her clan? I don't think I can go without her... The nervousness must have shown. My father placed his calming hand on one shoulder as he smiled down at me.

As we approached the clan hall, I saw a handful of other fathers with their young sons who were all about my age. It looked like I was the only girl here. As if I didn't need another reason to be nervous. We entered the queue in silence. After looking around some more, I began to wish I had brought a book or a scroll or something. Waiting in line is awful. As I stood there, trying my damndest not to rock back and forth on my heels, I saw a few of the kids who were there at the park the day they were bullying Iroha. As soon as they saw me, they hid behind their dads or turned their faces away from my glare. That's right, cower. But there was Jetti, smiling at me and I waved back. Jetti hadn't been there that day, so he was still good in my books. I had invited him over a few times since then and once, I had asked him if he knew anything about it. From his reaction I could tell he was shocked that they hated Iroha and couldn't believe that they had hurt her so badly. I had so few friends, so not losing him meant more than I cared to admit. When it was his turn to go in, I gave him a small wave and thumbs up. He smiled and nodded back.

God, the waiting is unbearable, I thought. I tried my best to keep my feet from tapping. After more waiting, he came back out with his parents with a giant grin on his face. He gave me a thumbs up as he passed us. It was now my turn. We entered the council hall and I was stunned at how open it was. Facing us was a trio of older men sitting in the traditional style with what looked like the clan leader in the middle. As we approached, my dad whispered, "Remember to address him as Hiroto-sama."

We both bowed and the man to the left of Hiroto-sama motioned for me to sit and for my father to sit on the side. I took my seat and dad moved to sit on the side of the room. I felt very exposed, which probably exactly what they wanted, so I sat there trying to exude confidence and waited to be addressed.

"And why have you come before us today?" Hiroto-sama demanded looking down his nose at me.

Internally, I hated him for asking it like I was inconveniencing him, or that he had no clue as to why we were here, but I breathed in and let my frustration dissipate as I breathed out. I answered him saying, "I am here to request permission to enter the Ninja Academy early," and with a slight pause and with a tiny bit of afterthought, "Hiroto-sama." I bowed my head respectfully and kept it bowed.

The man to his left said, "For an Uchiha, entering the academy is a privilege, not a right. You must convince us that you will uphold the honor and reputation of the Uchiha name."

The man to the right continued, "You must show us that you are ready, in mind and in body, to face the challenges ahead."

For the next twenty minutes, they drilled me with questions about the clan and the basics of jutsu and chakra. Then, they asked about the rumor of me unlocking the Sharingan while having never been in combat of any sort. As my father coached me last night, it is wise to not lie to them, but you don't have to reveal all the facts. In fact, a good ninja often tells half-truths.

"I have unlocked the first stage of the Sharingan, and I know that the Sharingan can allow one to see chakra, as well as can read lips from a distance, and mimic movements with it," I stated plainly. "Would you like to see it active for yourself?" I asked, grinning to myself.

"Yes, please do," the man to the left said with a look that said "if you can" more clearly than words could have.

I stood up and closed my eyes briefly. As I opened them, I focused on my eyes while thinking about seeing every single detail in my vision. My vision became crystal clear, and not that I knew it at the time, but the tomoe spun a few times as I permanently imprinted the shocked look on all three of the clan leaders' faces that they failed in hiding.

-Scene Change-

I proudly walked out of the clan hall holding the slip with all three of their signatures on it for early admission to the academy. My dad and I walked home, but I was practically skipping. I was holding off until I got home as to not seem too, how did those old farts put it? Oh yeah, childish.

Once we got home, my daddy lifted me up and spun me around, while saying, "Congratulations, my little sweetie. I knew you could do it. You've made me and your mother very proud."

That night we had a great huge, by normal standards, meal. Mom is a great cook, I had yet to eat a meal that I didn't love. After dinner, I was told that I needed to get some sleep. The next few days would be long as I prepared for the academy, but I knew that it would all be more than worth it.

-Scene Change-

I had two weeks until classes started, so the following day my mom took me out shopping for some new clothes, shoes, and some basic supplies I would need for classes, like a backpack, and pencils, and scrolls, and all sorts of things. While out, I ran into Jetti while in the store getting the pack and pencils. We congratulated each other and playfully swore that each of us would be better than the other. Then, when we went for the clothes, I ran into Iroha. I ran up to her and grasped her hand tightly as I asked her if she had gotten in too.

Iroha laughed quietly with a grin, and responded with, "As if there was ever any doubt."

We then continued to shop for our respective clothes for this up and coming adventure that we both would be sharing, our matching smiles making my mother smile too.

-Scene Change-

Those two weeks went by so fast; the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of the academy, my hands held by my mom and dad for my first day. God why am I so nervous? I've been homeschooled in two different states, been put into public school, and had to learn to make new friends both in my previous life as well as this one. I should be a pro at this! Okay, Kamiko, breathe. In and out... There were a lot more kids here than I expected, but then again, I have only really interacted with Iroha, and the bullies from the Uchiha clan.

The sensei filed us into a large auditorium. My mom and dad squeezed my hand reassuringly as they left to join the adults that lined the walls as the sensei ushered us kids to the seats. As much as my mind was pretty much that of a young adult, at this point, I was still glad that my new parents were within view. I gave them a tiny wave as I was ushered to a row. A low hum of chatter filled the air as all the seats were filled. It didn't take too long. A quick glance told me that while the auditorium wasn't filled to capacity, it was rather full.

Has this place ever been completely full? There's still plenty of room...

A older man, I would have guessed maybe in his early-to-mid-forties, walked up onto the stage. The dull roar of inane chatting and gossipping died off immediately and I automatically sat up a little straighter in my chair. From where I sat, I could see the words Third Hokage written across the back of his robes. The hairs on the back of my neck lifted and I shuddered at the aura of power that he was just causally giving off. Despite the awe-inspiring power that oozed from his every pore, the way that his eyes sparkled as he looked at all of us struck me as very Dumbledore-esque. I smiled slightly as both relief and inspiration flooded my system and my back finally touched the back of my chair.

After a few moments of surveying us, he leaned forward and spoke in a low voice that nevertheless echoed about the hall with very little effort. I briefly wondered if it was just projection or a subtle jutsu.

"Each, and every one of you, are here to learn the fine arts of being a ninja, or a kunoichi. I wish to see each of you succeed brilliantly, so I hope that each of you will soak up what the educators here will teach you with respect and a thirst to know more." He continued going on about the Will of Fire, and that we all will add our strength and our skills to what makes this village great, even if we didn't become a ninja. He gave us all a final reassuring smile, and with a deft nod, he left the stage. My hands raised automatically to applaud, but I quickly caught myself. Everyone else was sitting in silence. I quickly sat on my hands. Traitors! Four other ninja came up onto the stage, and they started calling out names for their classes. I guess that it would be hard to teach all of us in one class. I only hoped that Iroha was put into my class, or at least Jetti! He would be fun to have in class.

As fast as my heart soared with a sensei calling out my name, it sank just as fast as Iroha's name was called by a different sensei. Tears bit at the corners of my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away. Maybe they just don't want to put different clans together yet? Classes might get condensed later anyway...and I can still see her after school. At least Jetti's name was called out by my sensei. That was enough to banish my tears and stomach butterflies. After all of the names were called, our sensei ordered us to follow them to our classrooms. The auditorium emptied much more slowly than it had filled, with kids elbowing each other out of the way and tripping over themselves to find their new sensei. As soon as we were all sorted by class, the sensei began to lead us out. As I followed my new teacher, I smiled at my parents as they gave me a encouraging nod.

My teacher was a young woman who I would guess was in her mid twenties, though it was hard to guess. From my observations, it seemed that everyone in this village had very good genetics, and looked younger than I would expect for their age—until the wear and tear of life and being ninja got to them, anyway. There were some that I had seen that had very old eyes in very young faces. My new teacher didn't look like that. Yet.

My excitement was rather quickly dashed. Classes were boring! My sensei went over a lot of things I already knew about Chakra, and how the body replenishes it at a given rate that takes years to get used to.

Some kid I didn't recognize interrupted her lecture impatiently. "So when are you gonna teach us some cool techniques?"

My ears perked up at that, but quickly drooped again at her reply. "You're way too young to start learning techniques." Over the complains and groans, she continued. "Your chakra coils are still developing; trying to draw out chakra at this point would strain them, and possibly stunt your potential growth. Believe me, as soon as we think you are ready to handle it, you'll be learning how to use ninjutsu."

Loudmouth piped up again, "How soon is that?"

"When you're ready." She smiled gently to take some of the sting out of her words. "Trust your sensei, we won't hold you back unnecessarily."

While Chakra Theory class was boring, History was rather more interesting. It captured my undivided attention while the rest of the class almost fell asleep. I was eager to soak up all the history of this new world that I could. Sadly, while it was interesting, the reliable written accounts dated back only a hundred years or so. As it turned out, that was only because Konoha was that old, and the concept of a ninja village hadn't existed before then. Some clans were thought to have older records, but as those were kept secret, they weren't available to the class. This surprised me greatly, as it looked like the village had been here for a long time.

Of course, my favorite class was PE. I hadn't enjoyed it too much in my previous life, but here, in this body I had the ability and the desire to excel at it. I nearly squealed with excitement as the other classes joined us out on the athletic track and Iroha waved at me from her group. The sensei mostly had us running laps. I quickly discovered that, if I focused on each step I took, I seemed to pull ahead of the main group. Yet, every time I stopped focusing, I could only keep pace with the rest. After experimenting with that a few more times, it suddenly occurred to me that I was probably actively channeling my chakra into my muscles while the rest of the class only did passive channeling. While I could chose to keep channeling my chakra, I quickly chose to work on my actual muscles. If I had stronger muscles, the channeling would probably have a much more noticeable effect. I kept this discovery to myself; my sensei didn't seem to approve of chakra experimenting at our age. Still, I whispered about my findings to Jetti and Iroha after school when we were safely in my backyard. They agreed that this would be an awesome secret weapon to use if things got serious. Jetti wanted to start using it all the time, but when Iroha and I pointed out that training without it would mean a bigger boost, he agreed to hold off on it "unless it's super-important".

-Time Skip-

-First Year Graduation Test-

When the day of the test finally came, my stomach butterflies were back. While I was confident in my own abilities, I was nervous for Jetti. He had been having a rough time with the physical side of our classes. I had tried to help him on it, running and doing other exercises and such in my backyard with Iroha, but no matter what we did or how hard we worked, Iroha and I kept pulling ahead of him. Our sensei had told us a few weeks ago that there were three tests; two written exams with a physical exam in-between. We had tried to get Jetti up to our level, but no matter how hard he tried, it just wasn't happening. I couldn't help my worry; what if he couldn't pass? He seemed more nervous than I was in the exam room. His face was pale and he kept fidgeting with his thumbs.

I shot him a smile and an encouraging thumbs up as the first test was passed out. It was on Chakra Theory. I actually struggled a little on parts of it. I guess I hadn't studied as well as I should have. Still, as she gathered up our papers, I felt that I had still done fairly well. But next? Next...the PE test.

It was in two parts. First, they wanted us to do sprints up and back, and then, do endurance runs. They had us running one at a time. Talk about embarrassing! When it was my turn to do the sprints and endurance run, and I had a difficult decision to make. If I went all out, pushing my chakra through my muscles, I'd be going much faster than I ever had in the class. However, if I didn't push my chakra, it'd be my muscles alone. As much as I knew that my muscles were perfectly adequate and would get me where I wanted to go… I grinned a little savagely to myself as I decided to push my chakra. The only ones who had seen me with chakra-enhanced physicality was Iroha and Jetti. This would be a surprise to everyone. God, they're all going to hate me. Still, the looks on their faces will be worth it!

"Are you ready, Uchiha Kamiko?" A chuunin-sensei asked as I got up to the line for the sprints.

I nodded, and assumed the starting position. When the sensei signaled for me to go, I practically exploded from the starting position and flew down field and back, beating the previous best time by a good five seconds. The sensei's eyebrows were nearly up into his hairline; he had been there for all the PE classes so he knew how fast I usually went. After he wrote down the time on his board, he sent me to another sensei for the endurance run. As I left, he motioned Jetti up to the start line, as I passed him I gave him thumbs up and smiled at him. He tried to smile back, but his face twisted in a sort of grimace instead. Then I couldn't watch him anymore.

My endurance test was a breeze. Eventually, the sensei had to call for me to stop, as I had passed over the limits for distance and time. As he wrote everything down on his clipboard, I heard him mutter something about "Damn kids these days... First a Hyūga, now an Uchiha." I giggled to myself as I hurried away, grinning like a fool.

After we were done, we were told that it was time for lunch. Thankfully, our teacher had us bring our packs down with us in anticipation for this, so I rushed over to "our" spot under a tree where I usually met up with Iroha and Jetti for lunches. I had already dug into my bento when Iroha, then Jetti joined me under the tree's shade.

"So, how did you two do?" I asked excited around a mouthful of rice.

Iroha replied first, happy and bubbly in that weirdly-subdued Hyūga way, "I did wonderfully. The sensei were a little annoyed at how well I did with the endurance test, but I wasn't about to stop short." A cocky smirk worked its way onto her face as she continued. "It's hardly our fault if their test can't handle our brilliance and as your mom says, we must do our best"

"I did okay... Probably not nearly as good as you two. Like usual," Jetti said a little sadly, poking at his onigiri, "but I probably passed. I noticed a lot of the others were struggling more than I was with that endurance test. I'm really glad I trained with you two these last few months." He took a big bite. "That probably helped."

After lunch, we had to split up once more to go to our classroom for the final test. As we entered, we were handed some test papers. Since we couldn't start the test until we told to do so, Jetti and I wandered to our normal spot near the back, and plopped down in our chairs, exhausted.

"I hope this test is over quickly, I'm tired," I murmured to Jetti as he nodded back half-heartedly. A quick glare from our sensei and we quickly stopped talking.

After what seemed to be an eternity, our sensei told us that we had forty minutes to complete the test. I flipped the test over, my mind flashing back to standardized tests back in my old life, I skimmed the whole test. I answered any easy questions first, then went back to the harder ones. This test was on history and geography, so I felt much more at ease than with our first test. The questions were like, "Who is the current ruler of fire country?" or "What are the countries that border ours?" I found them to be very easy. I was done in about twenty-five minutes. After a minute break, I went over my answers twice more to make sure they were right, and I hasn't screwed any of them up. By the time I finished, it was almost thirty-five minutes into the exam. I shrugged and with my test in my hand, I walked up to the front and handed it in. My sensei glanced up from the test that she was grading already to give me a quick nod. I was the fourth to finish, so I went back to my seat. With nothing else to do, I folded my arms on my desk, put my head down, and took a quick rest. I tried to not go completely asleep, but I was quickly losing the battle.

Five minutes later, my sensei called the end of the test, but we were to stay in our seats until she had finished grading them so we could learn our results from the day's testing. It felt like it took forever, but in reality, it must've only taken another forty minutes. She began to fill envelopes and seal them. Only once she had finished with that, did she say that we could file up and get our test results as we left. I clutched my envelope tightly in my hands, rushing out to the yard after we got out of our classroom. I ripped it open, and rifled through the papers, heart pounding madly. My Chakra Theory test, B, my History and Geography test, A+, and my physical test, S with a note that I placed first in all three classes. I froze, reading and re-reading the note. First?! I came in first?! I quickly looked up and scanned the yard for my friends. I spotted them under our tree. I ran over as quickly as I could, waving my results in the air. As soon as I reached them, we compared our results. Iroha had done about the same but a little better at Chakra theory, and a little worse on the History and Geography, but on the physical, she had placed first, too. Jetti, of course, had aced Chakra Theory, as well as the History and Geography. On the physical exam, he had gotten a low B. He laughed and said he was just embarrassed he couldn't have caught up with us. I was so happy with our results that I didn't notice the annoyed looks on the other Uchiha kids, glaring at our group from the edges of the yard.

 **-Author Note- Sorry for re-posting but there were a few changes that I had to make and I feel these changes are for the better. I hope you enjoy**

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also wish to give thanks to frodoschick and Halbyrd on co-writing specifically with the grammar and conversation writing.


	5. Chapter 5 - Summon Sensei no Jutsu

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

" **Technique Casting** "

 _Inner thoughts and speech_

 _INNER YELLING_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 5 - Summon Sensei No Jutsu**

When my second year at the academy finally started, I found out that over half of my previous class had failed the tests and had been filtered out. I had new people in my homeroom and very few old faces. I was also placed into this new "girls-only" class called Kunoichi class. _I hope I get to learn some fun and interesting things there...and that it isn't a complete waste of my time_. I was so excited to go that I was sort of in a daze for most of my first day back at the academy. ( _It didn't really help that I couldn't sleep the night before…_ ) I ran out of my room and into Iroha in the hall as the normal classes were let out.

"Hiya, Iroha, how was class today? I'm looking forward to this Kunoichi class, it seems so interesting. What about you?" I asked, my tongue almost tripping over my words.

"Kunoichi class?" she inquired, a puzzled frown on her face. "Women from my clan get an exemption from that; don't yours?" When I shook my head, she sighed. "Right, sorry, I forget just how _many_ Uchiha there are; getting private tutors in the womanly arts for all of you wouldn't be very practical." She snorted. "Even if we did leave the boys out of it." We both giggled at that. "Anyways, I've already had flower arrangement and kokyū playing and comportment and all the rest of that drilled into my head; practically since I was old enough to walk. Kunoichi class would be a waste of my time, and the sensei know it." At my deflated pout, she continued. "Tell you what. Why don't we hang out after class on those days you have Kunoichi class and compare notes? I'll bet I can show you stuff the sensei won't."

"What _kind_ of stuff?" I asked.

"I don't know, that's why I need you to take notes." At my expression, she sighed. "Don't scowl like that, there's no helping it." She thought for a moment, then brightened. "Think of it as a reconaissance mission. You'll be my spy on the inside, sneaking out all their secrets."

I snorted at that. "Secrets? In a Kunoichi class?"

"Hey, a mission is a mission. Besides, a ninja is supposed _to see underneath the underneath_ , right? You can't always know beforehand what the info you gather is going to be useful for. Treat it like a D-rank, at the very least." She held up a package I recognized from our lunches. "I can even pa~y you~!" she teased in a singsong voice.

"Are those the sakura mochi you had with lunch?" I couldn't help drooling a little.

She laughed, waving the package in front of my hungry eyes. "Yu~p. And if your recon mission is a success, they're all yours."

"That's a done deal!" I laughed, snatching at them. She laughed again, tucking them away with a shake of her head.

"Uh-uh, not until I get your recon notes! Now, get to class! And don't forget your cover; you're supposed to be all uncertain and stuff." She waved as she hurried off, leaving me to find the classroom.

So, I trudged off to the classroom that it was supposed to be held in, double-checking the note I gotten at the end of class. I glanced around the room as I entered. I wasn't the first one here; there were a few girls scattered about the desks that had already arrived. I wandered up to the back of the room and plopped down next to a girl with scarlet hair that I recognized from my earlier classes. I buried my head in my arms on the desk, hoping to take a small nap before class started.

"Why are you sitting next to me? Go sit somewhere else!" the girl snarled at me.

I didn't even bother lifting my head. "Nope, too tired to move. If you want to move you're welcome to," I mumbled out, snuggling down further into my arms.

"That is so Nara." she said pointedly and rather loudly; then after a short pause asked, " _Are_ you a Nara?"

I considered not even giving her an answer.

"Are. You. A. Nara." she demanded, prodding my arm.

"No, I am an Uchiha ‒ Uchiha Kamiko. Now, can you quiet down till class starts please?" I answered softly but firmly. _I know I'm not exactly energetic today, but really, a Nara? I'm not_ that _bad._

After that she quieted down...until some other girls came into the room. I groaned inwardly as I noticed that the sound of their footsteps were coming in our direction. _I just want a naaaaaap…_ One of them started to make fun of the redheaded girl by calling her names like "tomato-head"and such. I tried to ignore it, but my seat-mate's volume made it impossible. "My name's not _tomato-head_ , it's Kushina, _dattebane_!" That last bit sounded like it came out almost involuntarily. The other girls laughed nastily. I could feel my seat-mate slump in her seat. They made another nasty comment and I felt her body shudder.

 _Bullies never change._

I slowly raised my head, eyes already fixated on the group of girls standing before us. One of them shifted uncomfortably as she realized I was actually awake. Channeling Iroha's signiture brand of making people uncomfortable, I arched an eyebrow at them. " _Tomato-head_? Really?" I slowly drawled out in a bored voice, shifting my expression from anger to mild pity and contempt. "If _that's_ the best you can come up with, it's no wonder you're here. I see a few chairs up front, why not go sit there? I'm sure you girls will get _far_ more out of this class than we will."

They reeled back at that, but the leader quickly recovered. "No need to ask why _you're_ back here; obviously you've got no chance of picking this stuff up, so you're giving up ahead of time." Her face gained a superior smirk as she said this.

 _Time to put the fear of_ _me_ _into them, I think._ My face dropped into a completely deadpan expression. "You shouldn't be so quick to judge by appearances, little girl. After all, ' _a ninja is supposed to look underneath the underneath_ ,'" As I said this, I activated my Sharingan, staring them in the eyes to be sure they saw.

The three flinched back at that, recoiling as though I'd struck them. "H-ha!" one of them scoffed, though the quavering note in her voice betrayed her fear. "A f-fine kunoichi you'll make, leaking bloodlust everywhere like that!" The others were furtively glancing to the sides, obviously planning their escape route. "You and Tomato-head are a perfect pair of f-failures!" She blushed as she stuttered, and the rest of their stubbornness dissolved. "Come on girls, l-let's go sit somewhere else. We don't want to get their stench on us!" They tried to keep haughty expressions on their faces as they retreated, but the wide eyes and darting glances ruined the effect.

I put my head back down and deactivated my Sharingan. Kushina slowly sat up and after a moment of silence, spoke up. "Why did you take my side, _dattebane_? You don't even know me," Her voice was unusually quiet as she said this. "Sticking up for me isn't going to do either of us any good."

The sheer matter-of-factness in her tone shocked me. _She acts like it's just a given that nobody's going to take her side. What the hell!_ "Umm, you're welcome." I lifted my head and aimed a glare at the trio of would-be alpha-bitches as I continued, "To put it simply, I took your side because I detest bullies. Now, let's see if I can get back to that dream I was having. Flying was fun." _This girl looks to need a friend, but I think she needs to be the one to initiate it._ I dropped my head back onto my folded arms and closed my eyes with a fake yawn, pretending to go back to sleep. _Your move, Red._ It was quiet for a few more moments.

"So, ummm, my name is Uzumaki Kushina. What was yours again?" Kushina asked.

"Uchiha Kamiko; my friends call me Kami-chan." I stated, not raising my head.

"What...what was that you did to your eyes?" Kushina asked. "I know you didn't have red eyes when you came in."

"That is my clan's bloodline limit; it is called the Sharingan," I said as I sat up, giving up on the pretense of napping. I smirked as I glanced back down at the alpha-bitches, still shaking off the bloodlust I hit them with in the front row. "For some reason, a lot of people get freaked out when they see it. And seeing me read their every little move just seems to make it worse. I just can't imagine why." I gave an airy little toss of my head as I said this last.

Kushina giggled at that, and I smiled. _Guess she just needed a little humor to lighten her day_. We turned to the front as the sensei walked in.

The sensei was an older woman in her forties; she had a matronly air that brooked no disrespect. She strongly reminded me of McGonagall… During the next hour, she instructed us in the nature of the Kunoichi arts. According to her, "-the ideal kunoichi is like a poisoned flower; beautiful yet deadly. She does not charge in head-on like a brutish man, she deceives the enemy with a façade of fragility and feminine grace. When his guard is lowered, she strikes without warning, fading back into invisibility as the deed is done..." She went on like this without pause for the entire hour. While the lecture was definitely enlightening, the dull monotone she delivered it in somehow managed to suck out any interest it might have sparked. I dutifully took notes as Iroha had asked, but more than once I had to blink and shake myself awake. The sensei scowled at me whenever I did this, but didn't so much as slow her delivery. _Pity._

As class was let out, I looked over at Kushina and asked, "Are you doing anything this afternoon? I was going to go hang out with a friend and I was wondering if you would like to join us."

"Your friend...won't mind me joining you two?" Kushina questioned with a stare that I thought she meant to be cool and calculating. It came off as rather cute.

"Nah, she shouldn't mind; we were going to compare notes on class as she's getting 'private lessons' from her clan." I mimed air quotes at this, giggling.

Kushina grinned. She seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. We walked out of the Academy together.

I guided us through Konoha towards the Hyūga compound, lost in thought. _I hope that Kushina-chan and Iroha-chan get along well, It would be nice to have another in our little group._ As we approached the gates to the Hyūga compound, Kushina grabbed my shoulder and yanked me backwards. "What are you doing?! You can't just walk up to the Hyūga compound. N-nobody just walks up to the Hyūga compound, especially not an Uchiha!"

I gave her a hearty laugh. Wiping a tear from my eye, I shook my head. "One of my best friends is a Hyūga, and I come here often. Com'n, scaredy-cat." I grabbed her hand and pulled her forward to the gate, waving at the two chuunin guards.

One of the guards spoke up. "Welcome Kamiko-chan; who is your friend?"

"This is Kushina-chan," I replied, "She's a friend of mine, and I wanted to introduce her to Iroha-chan," I put a false note of hesitancy into my voice as I looked up at him, tapping my forefingers together in the nervous gesture I'd seen Iroha use a dozen times before. "I-I'm not being a bother, am I?" I asked as I looked up, giving him my best sad puppy impression.

He tried to maintain the normal Hyūga sternness, and he lasted almost a full ten seconds before he folded like soggy ramen. "Of course not, Kamiko-chan. Go right on ahead, I'll let them know you're coming."

I smiled and thanked him with a courteous bow, and led Kushina in through the gates while she goggled at me in astonishment. _I am getting good at those, maybe I should try to learn some genjutsu when I am allowed to_. We rushed to Iroha's place and found her doing some kata in the front yard. I stopped for a second to admire her grace.

"Hey Iroha-chan!" I shouted, grinning as Iroha jumped with surprise. I pulled Kushina forward and gestured to her. "I made a friend today in the Kunoichi class; her name is Kushina-chan."

Iroha dropped out of her stance and turned to us, giving Kushina a look that was calculating but not unfriendly. I guess she liked what she saw as she motioned for us to join her in the garden as she asked, "So, I take it you're in your second year as well?"

"Of course. I got in early because I am just that awesome and totally going to be the first female Hokage, _dattebane_!" she shouted out in response, striking a pose that was meant to impress. It just made me smirk.

"Umm, Kushina-chan, they like it quiet in this district so try not to startle anyone. Unless, that was your goal," I stated with a deadpan expression, trying desperately to not let a smirk cross my face. I turned to Iroha. "So, what mischievous thing are we going to get up to today? Learn some forbidden jutsu? Play a prank on one of the elders?" I asked watching Kushina's face out of the corner of my eye for a reaction.

Kushina looked from me to Iroha and back with her mouth hanging wide open in a totally flabbergasted expression. Iroha arched her eyebrow at me and I broke out giggling while saying, "We don't prank anyone, _yet_ , but I think you will fit in great with our little group. Too bad Jetti is busy training with his dad lately. He has been training his fire nature release, but he can't even make sparks yet. I can throw a small ball of fire out of my mouth now! Watch this!" I formed the hand seals for the Great Fireball Jutsu. " **Katon: Gokakyū no Jutsu!** " I opened my mouth and blew. A puff of flame the size of a meat bun popped out, lasting maybe a second before it disappeared. Iroha and Kushina both clapped, Iroha with a sarcastic smirk on her face and Kushina in apparently genuine amazement.

A brilliant, but reckless thought popped in my head, "Hey, Iroha-chan, do you know anything about wind release?"

She raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner. "A little bit, why?"

"You know how the elements work together, right?" She nodded. "What happens when you add a wind jutsu and a fire jutsu together?"

A positively evil grin crossed Iroha and Kushina's faces at the same moment; shortly after I started grinning too. I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "I know our new plan for this semester: I need to work on mastering fire and one or both of you need to master wind."

Over the next few months, we tried to find out how we would go about learning wind release or jutsus. It turned out to be way harder than we had anticipated. Nobody would give us a straight answer and all the scrolls we looked at were nigh-indecipherable. It took forever but I finally managed to get an answer out of one of my older "cousins". It took so much flattery and abject cluelessness on my part and begging him to tell us because "theoretically" we wanted to do that training with the excuse of trying to score extra credit for class and bring pride to the Uchiha clan, etcetera etcetera. He was able to tell me a bit from what he knew about the various transformations and that one needed this special paper to tell what affinity one had. He also told me about a scroll in the clan library that contained the steps for Uchiha to do the fire nature transformation.

The scroll would be easy, I had access to that. Getting that " _special paper_ " and testing our affinities; that would be the hard part. In the end, I asked my dad about the special paper, saying that my friends and I wanted to find out what our chakra natures were, and we'd be _so grateful_ , and I'd do extra chores around the house, _yadda yadda_. He said that next time they were over training, _**if**_ he got home while they were still here, he would let them do the affinity test. "This paper is rare and expensive, so I can't just hand it over, my little ninja. You understand." I smiled and hugged him and thanked him.

The next day I relayed this to my friends after our classes were over. "Okay, so my dad says he can get this special paper that allows someone to tell what affinity they have. Next time you're over at my place to train when he's home, he said he would let us take the test!" They both cheered at this, Kushina practically dancing on her toes with glee.

"Isn't today's practice over at your place, Iroha-chan?" Kushina asked. We had been sparring and tutoring each other, which had a great impact on our grades. We had quickly gotten a reputation of being the top kunoichi in the academy for our year. _I knew she'd be good for our group._

"Of course, yesterday we had it over at Kami-chan's, where I kicked her flabby butt in taijutsu," she said with a grin.

"Umm, NO YOU DID NOT! It was a close fight, and anyway, you cheated. I didn't use my dōjutsu at all; I saw you activate yours there at the end." I smirked back and lightly punched her in the shoulder. "So, we going to work on more chakra control today?"  
Kushina groaned at this. "Do we have to? You know I hate chakra control training."

"You can't just focus on your strengths, you have to work on your weak points too, or they'll never improve." I scolded her, smiling to take the sting out of it.

The rest of the day went fairly uneventfully, with Hanabi drilling us on some basic chakra control techniques. It was slow-going, which was probably why Kushina found it so boring, but frankly, I loved it; it was almost relaxing to sit there in a cross-legged position focusing on trying to hold a leaf to your forehead for as long as possible.

As the day wrapped up, I whispered to the others conspiratorially, "I'll see if Dad can get off early tomorrow night, so he can test us on that nature affinity thing." Then I raised my voice, continuing, "See you all at the academy tomorrow! Oh, training at my place tomorrow, so make sure you bring those leg weights; Mom wanted me to remind both of you."

The next day seemed to drag on and on. I just didn't want to wait anymore! I was pretty sure I had fire affinity ( _clan attributes, duh,_ ) but I was so curious to see what Kushina and Iroha had and to see how the testing worked. When the bell rang for the end of the day, I was out of class before my sensei had even started packing up his books. As I waited for them at the entrance to the academy, Jetti hurried up to find me bouncing on the balls of my feet. He was more than a little excited to be able to take the test too. "I know I will be fire affinity like all of us Uchiha, right? I wonder how strong I'm gonna be?" he said enthusiastically to me as we waited. Iroha and Kushina didn't keep us waiting long. We all quickly made our way to my house, chatting excitedly about today's training as we went.

"My dad has been training me in our clan fighting style; I think I can kick your butt now Kami," Jetti bragged lightheartedly. He glanced sideways at our white-haired friend. "Mmmaybe I can even give Iroha a run for her money, but Kushina, you are a beast when it comes to taijutsu."

"You really think so? Your footwork is still a little sloppy," I responded with all the bluster an eight year old could.

"His footwork is just as sloppy as yours, Kami-chan." Iroha stated, her face almost perfectly deadpan. The slight smirk gave it away, though.

Kushina laughed so heartily that she startled some of the passersby.

By the time we arrived, we were all excited to start training. With a gentle smile, Mom insisted that we eat a small snack before she started us up on some taijutsu training. The hours flew by, and we were all physically exhausted by the time Dad finally made it home. We were catching our second wind when we heard him call out a greeting as he walked through the front door.

"We're all in the backyard. Did you bring the tests?" I shouted out to him as I saw the giddy eyes of my friends. _I can't wait, but knowing Dad he will probably delay it just to annoy us._

Dad showed up in the doorway and said with a grin, "I did, now give me a few minutes to relax after a long day at work."

 _Yep, I knew it._ I knew he was baiting me, it was one of his favorite pastimes. "Okay Dad, take your time; we just got done with our taijutsu training so we need a break too." _Two can play at this game._

The stares my friends were giving me could melt a hole through steel but I knew that they would be patient. About ten minutes later, Dad came back outside in more casual clothes and pulled out four small pieces of paper. His whole demeanour changed, becoming serious as he handed one to each of us. "Now this is very serious, these are not cheap to get and you can't even buy them if you're not Chūnin rank or higher." He looked us each straight in the eyes in turn. "Okay, we will do this one at a time so that I can explain to you what the paper's response means. So let us start with you, Jetti." He turned to face him. "Now hold the paper between both hands and try to channel chakra into it, like you would do with the leaf-sticking exercise."

Jetti stood there and after a few seconds his piece of paper ignited brightly and quickly turned to ash. "As expected," my Dad said with a nod. "Like most Uchiha, you have a strong fire affinity. Now, Kushina, your turn."

Kushina hesitantly held the paper like Jetti did. After a few seconds, her paper split cleanly in two and then became slightly damp. Dad raised an eyebrow at this saying, "Interesting, a strong wind affinity with a secondary in water. A rare combination to see in Konoha, and a useful one. It's not often you'll find yourself deprived of both air and water, so you'll always have access to some elemental jutsu . Now, Iroha-chan, it's your turn."

Iroha determinedly held onto the paper and it quickly ripped in two before bleaching and becoming brittle. "Wind and..." he consulted some notes in a small pocketbook, "yang? The yang affinity is obvious enough, given your heritage, but the wind is a surprise. I haven't heard of any Hyūga expressing a strong elemental affinity outside of the yang chakra they use in their Jyūken techniques."

Iroha looked both pleased and worried. "Wind and yang? Maybe that's why I've been having trouble with..." She trailed off, a pensive look on her face. "I need to talk with Father about this."

Dad nodded. "I think that would be a good idea. There's a lot about the Jyūken I don't understand, so I don't know how much help I can be. Still, if you have any questions about wind-nature chakra, I'll answer them as best as I can." Iroha nodded and smiled in thanks, though the pensive frown quickly returned."

He then turned and looked at me motioning for me to go next. I held the paper in my hands expecting to see the same thing happen to mine as Jetti's. My expectations were quickly dashed as the right side ignited, quickly turning to ash and the left got very wet. I stood there, blinking rapidly at the soggy paper and ashes in my hands. _What? What?! WHAT?!_

Everyone stood there quiet for a few moments, then Dad cleared his throat saying, "Um. Well, you always find ways to surprise us, my little one. You have strong affinity for both fire and water. It is uncommon to have such strong affinities with opposing elements like this. As you know, the circle goes Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water, and back to Fire; each element is strong against the next one in line. So to have water and fire affinities in such strength is extremely rare." He paused for a long moment, thinking, then continued, "With you having two affinites I would highly suggest you focus on your ninjutsu training, you could become a very skilled nin-specialist." He and Mom smiled as he said this but there was something else behind those smiles. Concern? Worry? I couldn't quite say what.

I didn't dwell on it for long; Kushina's eardrum-splitting shout of "I KNEW IT! FUTURE HOKAGE, DATTEBANE!" had us all wincing and laughing as the neighborhood dogs started barking.

-Time Skip-

-Last Week of the Second School Year-

Chakra control was hard, but it was nothing compared to chakra recomposition. As it turns out, using an elemental jutsu isn't as easy as forming hand seals and dumping in the chakra. You have to change your chakra from its base state into an elementally-aligned state, then hold it separately while you mould it into the form you need for the jutsu. _Thank you Kushina for pulling out the Uzumaki elemental training scrolls; we'd have been banging our heads against a wall for YEARS without them. God, some of those advanced_ jutsu _sounded really awesome; I can't wait to start learning those._ Between those scrolls and our collective brainpower, Kushina and Iroha both learned to channel wind chakra and how to perform the Gale Palm jutsu from one of those scrolls. My dad was very happy that I was quickly mastering fire chakra; as I progressed, he taught me the finer points of the Great Fireball jutsu.

"So now that we've got those jutsu down," I casually said while we were on lunch break, "When are we going to play that prank on the sensei?"

Jetti looked at me curiously, "Jutsu? Plural? I know you were taught our clan fire jutsu but…"

"We thought you'd never ask," Kushina and Iroha said in stereo, their faces lit with matching malicious grins. "Since you came up with the idea, you can decide the timing," Iroha continued.

"How about today then, right before break ends?" I proffered, matching their grins with one of my own. Jetti looked between the three of us, his own smile turning rather sickly.

"We should do it away from the trees; we're pulling a prank, not setting the school on fire." Iroha said. I nodded, putting the remains of my lunch in my knapsack. We got up and walked over to the field with Jetti following us, a look of morbid curiosity on his face. Some of the other students looked at us oddly as we all walked that direction but went back to eating or goofing off.

"So, Iroha, on the third tap of your foot Iroha, Kushina and myself will do our jutsu." I said as my eyes turned red with two dots in both eyes. She nodded, and we all put our hands into position for the first seal.

One.

Two.

Three.

Iroha and Kushina started their jutsu as one, and I timed mine to finish a heartbeat before theirs. I breathed out a great plume of fire and their Gale Palm jutsu hit it from behind, ballooning it out to three times its original size. It sailed a small distance into the air, then unexpectedly, it exploded with much more force and noise than we expected.

If it wasn't for my Sharingan being active, I would have sworn that the sensei for half the classes teleported here out of thin air. Amazingly, our combination jutsu caused thunderclouds to manifest—in their expressions. _Oops.._.

"You three are in big trouble," Nara-sensei said, scowling at us with more emotion than I had seen in his face before. "You are going to answer to the Hokage for this!" as he motioned for us to follow. "And until we get there, keep your hands at your sides, your eyes down, and your mouths _shut_!"

We followed silently, Jetti trailing in our wake. _Ah crap, we really stepped in it this time. We are in such huge trouble. Are they going to expel us for this? They might expel us for this! Why did I think this was a smart idea?! Why is Jetti following, he had nothing to do with this. Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_

We sat in the waiting area for the Hokage in silence, and after a few minutes, we were ushered in. The office was rather large with a nice set of windows forming a semicircle on the far side of the room. An older man who was wearing long white robes was standing to one side of a large, paper-strewn desk. He was painting a portrait when we entered.

After a few moments, he paused and put the brush down. He turned to us standing there and his eyes bored into us. "Just finishing out your second year, and already learning combination ninjutsu. Should I be impressed, or worried?" His voice was quiet, and his tone mild, but nonetheless every word dropped into my brain with ominous clarity. He had a _presence_ that just dominated the room. _This is one person I should never ever cross_.

"Um, Hokage-sama, I have been been taught this year by my father how to do fire jutsu, and the Great Fireball jutsu. We thought if we did an air jutsu in combination with the fire jutsu, we would greatly improve it, and, well, we were more right that we expected, sir." I said with my head bowed. "It was all my idea, I take full responsibility."

"No, it is our fault, Hokage-sama." both Kushina and Iroha interjected as I said that last part.

The Hokage stared at us for a few seconds, his face impassive. Maybe it was my imagination, but the pressure in the room seemed to be building to unbearable levels. _If this keeps up much longer, my head is going to explode!_ Then a low chuckle escaped his lips, much to Nara-sensei's surprise. "Far be it for me to chastise our students for exceeding their teachers' expectations! Nonetheless, your enthusiasm must be tempered with caution. You will not be expelled, but I will ask you not to use those jutsu in the academy, neither by themselves, or in combination except under the direct supervision of one of the sensei. My compliments on not only learning how to channel elemental chakra at such a young age, but also learning two C-class jutsus," he said with a serious voice and a smile on his face. Then he turned to the sensei, "Please take them back to the Academy, they are to receive one week of detention during their summer break, giving all the classrooms a thorough cleaning, top to bottom." He turned back to us. "I'm sure the coordination you three have learned will come in handy. Now back to class you three, I expect to see great things from you."

"Um, Hokage-sama, who will be administering their detention?" the sensei asked with hesitation.

The Hokage looked at him quietly then glanced over at us then back at him, "I understand that the sensei are all going to be quite busy with preparations for the coming year." He looked out the window for a moment, then nodded. "I will keep an eye on them instead."

"But–!" Nara-sensei cut off at a glance from the Hokage, and bowed his head. "Yes, Hokage-sama, of course." He bustled the four of us out and as we exited I overheard the Hokage mutter to himself, "Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Hyūga, cooperating like sisters. Truly, interesting times are ahead."

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also wish to give thanks to** **frodoschick** **and** **Halbyrd** **on co-writing specifically with the grammar and conversation writing.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Bullies, Boredom and Bedlam

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

" **Technique Casting"**

"YELLING"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 6 - Bullies, Boredom and Bedlam**

The summer break started off with us in detention, again Jetti joined us. _Guess he thought he was also responsible, even though he didn't use any techniques. I am proud to have him as a friend as much as a cousin._ Our detention turned out to be orders from the Hokage to clean every single classroom at the academy. No ninjutsu allowed. True to what he had said during our lecture, the Hokage presided over our detention. He sat at a desk in whatever classroom we were cleaning in, doing village paperwork as many different ninja came in to ask questions. It was tiring, but way better than writing lines or something equally stupid like that. _Hokage-sama reminds me of Dumbledore, even if he isn't leaning on the "eccentric old man" act._ After that long week we finally got to go on break, but that was also short lived for me. My parents were none too happy that I had caused trouble for the Hokage, but were also equally proud that he took a vested interest in our punishment. So I got off light on the home punishment, _THANK GOD._ The punishment I got from them was that I was not allowed to have my friends over during summer, even Jetti. Instead, they filled all my newfound free time by drilling me on discipline and chakra control. One time, when Mom went inside to get us some drinks, Dad whispered to me, "I am proud of you, you managed to perform the Great Fireball jutsu perfectly from what I have heard. You were also able to help your friends to learn their techniques, as well as the proper timing to combine them. Most Chūnin never learn that is even possible, let alone managing to perform them with such synchronicity."

"It was all thanks to foot taps and my Sharingan." I said smiling as I activate it for him.

He peered at me intently. "It's progressing quickly for someone so young. From what I can see, it now is at step two; it now has two tomoe in each eye. Now, what does that mean?" he questioned me as if it was a test.

I responded happily, "Stage one allows superior sight. Stage two allows the user to pierce genjutsu and lets you see someone's chakra—though from what I have learned from Iroha-chan it is not as defined as their dōjutsu. Is that correct, daddy?" he nodded with a small, sad smile.

"And the final stage allows one to be able to read the subtle tells in their opponents and can copy jutsu that they see." I finished. He grimaced when I said final, but I didn't think much about it at the time. I was distracted by my mother coming back with cooling water and the conversation was quickly forgotten.

-Time Skip to beginning of third year-

As the new school year started, word of our prank spread like wildfire through the Academy. We all heard the whispers about how three second-years had not only learned how to do elemental releases, but had combined them to form something larger and only got a week's worth of detention. Little did they know that the week's worth of detention was during summer holiday.

"Hey Iroha-chan, Kushina-chan, how about we call that combination we did Summon Sensei no Jutsu?" I proffered to them during lunch the first day back.

Kushina broke out laughing, but Iroha looked at me seriously. "The Hokage told us to not use that combination again unless supervised by a teacher." Then she took a long pause and added smiling, "But that is a good name for it."

Jetti chuckled at this and added, "It will be useful when one needs back-up."

"I am glad we are all finally in the same class. About time, right?" I laughed.

After lunch, we laid back under the tree to take a small nap. We didn't notice that a group of twelve year-olds were making a beeline towards us until they were right on us.

"HEY, BRATS, GET UP OUT OF OUR SPOT NOW!" bellowed a girl that had long dark brown hair tied up in a single ponytail, "OR WE WILL KICK YOUR ASSES!"

"Yeah, this has been our spot since before you all came here," snarled a boy that looked like he had hit his growth-spurt way early as he towered over the rest of them. _He reminds me of the linebackers I saw in high school, both broad and tall._

We looked up at them dumbfounded. Kushina brazenly spoke up as she stood up, "ARE YOU TRYING TO PICK A FIGHT, IS THAT IT? WE WERE HERE FIRST, SO GO FIND YOUR OWN PLACE, _DATTEBANE_!"

She only stood up the boy's chest, but she was standing up to him all the same. That gave me the courage to stand up to them too; I did a handspring onto my feet to face them as well. I was shorter than Kushina but I gave them my best pissed-off-Uchiha glare. It was an old fashioned stand-off; neither of us wanted to back down. _They may have the "training", but I think we could at least hold our own IF they start it. After the detention this last summer I am not in the mood to get in trouble again, but if they start it we can say we were defending ourselves._

"OHHHH, I SEE, TOMATO HERE IS YOUR LEADER. OF COURSE ONLY SOMEONE WITH THE PATIENCE OF THE HYUGA COULD STAND BEING AROUND HER. AND WHAT ARE TWO UCHIHA GROUPING UP WITH THEM? DON'T YOU HAVE ANY CLAN PRIDE?" the girl shouted out for everyone to hear, as this had started to gather a crowd and it looked like they were enjoying the publicity it was garnering.

 _What an obnoxious ass. What happened to "Konoha ninja should stick together"? For that matter, where is a sensei when we need one?_ I was tempted to try to use a fireball to summon one, but I was saved from having to do something reckless as the bell rang out for the end of lunch. We grabbed our things and headed back to class, though I made a point not to seem rushed. Iroha apparently had similar ideas; she stood there giving them the Hyūga Stare until we had our things, then quite deliberately turned her back on them and followed us to the classroom.

As we entered we made a beeline to our spot in the back. Once there I spoke up, "So that was random. Why the hell did they choose us to pick on?"

"Who knows?" Jetti shrugged, not overly concerned.

"Probably because of me," Kushina mumbled quietly.

"Of course/Hell no, it's not because of you," Iroha and I quickly interjected, practically in stereo.

I thought for a moment. "Hmm, do you think it is because of that stunt we pulled at the end of last year?" I whispered, "Do you think that…?"

"We made too big a name for ourselves?" Iroha continued, picking up my train of thought. "Probably. _We_ know that we got a week's detention under the Hokage's eye during summer break; my family probably spun it as 'our daughter was personally overseen by the Hokage during a training exercise,' or some such nonsense." She mimicked a stuffy old clan elder so perfectly that Kushina and I both had to choke down giggles.

"I think," I said, after a moment, "that we should stay on our guard, and be ready to deal with whatever they throw our way. We won't _start_ anything, but we'll definitely _finish_ it." We all nodded in agreement.

Sadly, all of our classes every day for the next few months were boring, teaching us things we already had learned, either from our clans or from our training after class. No one in the class stood out as much as our little group. There was this kid with bright yellow hair that seemed to always edge us out in grades, but that was all he seemed to have going for him. He never got the sort of spectacular results we did in the practical exams, and was fairly quiet otherwise.

As regular as clockwork, near the end of every lunch break, those same kids came over to try to pick a fight. So far, our resolve had held, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore/stand up to them. Every time, they tried they made a _complete_ scene of it, gathering as much attention as possible. Obviously, they wanted as many witnesses as possible to see it when we "inevitably" snapped and attacked them. _Classic bully baiting. Well, fuck that; if they want a fight, they're going to have to throw the first punch._

As the months passed, it became a regular thing. I was getting really tired of it, but that detention of last summer had put enough fear into me that I wasn't about to start a fight just to get them to back off— _not yet, anyway_. Thankfully, the rest of the group seemed equally bored with it; we got to the point where we didn't even bother standing up to face them. We just sat there talking to each other, totally ignoring them. This did not sit well with the brown haired girl—I had nicknamed her Brownie, much to Iroha-chan's amusement. This time she had enough of our shit; as I was distracted with my lunch, she punched the back of my head, hard.

My vision blurred as my head flew forward, smashing face-first into my bento box. I had taken some hard punches during sparring sessions, but this one had caught me completely by surprise. As I sat there in a daze, I noticed my friends springing to their feet for some reason. _Why were they so upset again?_ Outraged exclamations like "Hey what was that for?" and, "How dare you?" prodded my brain back into gear. _Oh, right, she hit me; in the back of the head, even. That was rude; I ought to do something about that. Is this…_? I reached up and wiped away something that I thought was from my bento box on my face, only to find my fingers stained with red as I pulled them away. _Blood...nose?_ I quickly blinked myself out of my stupor. _SHE F****** HIT ME!_

As I stood up to face them, I noticed that Kushina was going toe to toe with Brownie, and Iroha was deftly dodging the bulky guy. His punches were slow, but I could tell that if he landed one, it would really hurt. Jetti was desperately trying to fend off two others that looked kind of like Inuzuka; their little dogs nipping at his heels were a dead giveaway. I rushed to his aid as quickly as I could, activating my Sharingan as I did so.

My blood was pumping fast, my nerves stinging with adrenaline as the whole scene came into complete focus. _As much as I don't want to be fighting other Konoha ninja, these dunderheads have it coming. Time to put a stop to this nonsense once and for all._ I came at them fast enough that they almost didn't see me coming and the closest one just barely ducked the punch I aimed at his head. _Well, no going back now._ As I dropped into a fighting stance with the ease of long familiarity, I engaged the Inuzuka; his dog quickly came to his defense. I heard the shouts of other kids converging on us from other parts of the yard. _Looks like we'll have a sizeable audience in a moment or two._

Two years difference in age might not mean much when you're in your twenties, but it means a hell of a lot more when your age is just barely into double digits. As hard as we fought, they had the advantage in strength and endurance, and it showed. Kushina had a ton of energy, as always, but her composure was quickly coming undone. Iroha continued to dodge with astonishing speed; she didn't get many chances to counterattack, but when she did those deceptively gentle taps staggered her opponent like hammer blows. Jetti and I were not doing so well with our opponents. At first the dogs seemed like nothing but an annoyance, but as the fight continued I began to understand why the Inuzuka clan's taijutsu style was so widely respected. Their beastial fighting style messed with our heads; even with the help of the Sharingan, we had trouble anticipating their moves. We paid for every mistake with cuts and bruises as the fight wore on.

This was turning into a battle of attrition, and that was a fight we were all but destined to lose. "RETREAT," I yelled out in desperation, hoping to salvage what I could. _What a mess. Why did we let them bait us into this?_

We tried to disengage, but again their two years of training showed as they gave us no breathing room. _We're about to get our asses kicked here; why hasn't a sensei come out yet? Was there some sort of interference going on to stop them from noticing?_ And just as I thought that, I hazarded a glance at the academy and noticed that something was off about the windows. Someone had placed a genjutsu over the windows. _You sly bastards,_ I thought _._ Even if it was just a visual obstruction, that would be enough to keep the sensei from noticing what was going on until it was too late. _Well, that just means we have to do something they'll notice anyway._ I cringed mentally at the thought of the apologizing I'd have to do for this later, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

" **Summon Sensei no Jutsu** , NOW!" I yelled as I started going through the hand seals for my part of the technique. Kushina and Iroha didn't hesitate and surprisingly Jetti also joined in; they launched into theirs before the sentence was all the way out of my mouth. Synchronized by long practice and sped by desperation, our technique worked even better than I had hoped. The combination of fire and wind ninjutsu didn't produce a pillar of flame this time, it produced _an fuel-air explosion_.

A bright flare lit up the sky above us, bright enough that the sky seemed to dim for a second. Everyone within a dozen yards was knocked flat by the sheer concussive force of it, and my ears rang with a loud, high-pitched whine as the noise rendered me temporarily deaf.

As we slowly sat up, blinking stupidly, a dozen or more sensei and other ninja that I didn't recognize appeared around us with preternatural speed. A couple of them, I realized with shock, were wearing the white, animal-themed face masks that marked members of ANBU. _Ho-ly shit, I think we just pissed off the ninja secret police!_ I thought with some measure of panic.

As they took in the scene, Nara-sensei came right up to me and the Inuzuka and pushed us apart with a huge scowl on his face. _Yup, we're in for it now_ , I thought with a sick sense of dread making a pit in my stomach _._ The other adults began separating combatants, pulling them aside for questioning.

I expected Nara-sensei to yell and scream and foam at the mouth. He didn't do that. He just looked at me, his gaze level and his tone even. "Kamiko Uchiha, if you value your future as a shinobi of this village, the next words out of your mouth had better be a complete and one-hundred-percent-honest account of what just happened. If you try to lie, or withhold information, _I will know_ , and it will _not_ go well for you. That, I promise." The deadly seriousness of his tone frightened me more than any amount of enraged threatening could. _Gulp._ His eyes darted to my face and I realized that I had been just letting my nose bleed freely. I was covered in my own blood. I quickly held up a hand and tried to stem the flow as I started speaking.

"We were just sitting under the tree, having lunch. I had my back turned to the rest of the field, minding my own business, when that girl with the brown ponytail over there," I pointed to her with a blood-coated hand, "punched me in the back of the head, hard enough to shove my face into my bento and break the box!" A bit of my earlier indignance came back as I recounted the tale. "Then, they all attacked us, and we were doing everything we could to keep them away, but they just kept coming at us! I had my Sharingan on, and I noticed that somebody had put up a genjutsu over the windows facing this way, so we did the only thing we could think of to get your attention." I looked down in shame, trying not to let him see the tears of rage and pain glistening in my eyes. "I know we weren't supposed to use that combination jutsu without a teacher to watch us, but we _were_ trying to get your attention, so...I guess it worked?" I said, trying to keep him from seeing my eyes and nose.

He didn't look amused. "Leaving that aside for the moment, you can't expect me believe you did nothing to provoke them into this fight." Nara-sensei said, his voice heavy with skepticism.

"Well, actually, they've been trying to pick a fight all _year_. It started about a week after classes resumed. I _THINK_ it is because of the combination jutsu we did last year, and I _THINK_ they believe we got out of trouble by some means. They seemed to want to exact their own punishment and to get a little notoriety of their own," I said. As I finished, I noticed that I still had my Sharingan active. _Whoops._ With a mental wince, I quickly shut it off. My bloody nose let out another wave of blood.

Nara-sensei gave me a long, calculating stare before nodding curtly. "Well, I have to confer with the other sensei, but I can already say that just like last year, this is too big of a situation for a normal detention. Once again, you are _all_ going to have to answer to the Hokage. Do not go anywhere." That last part he said with even more seriousness, if that was even possible.

Nara-sensei walked over to the others that had finished questioning each of us and they chatted for a few minutes. I glanced at my friends to get a gauge of how injured they were and was dismayed to find that they were just as injured as I was, or possibly even worse. Iroha-chan didn't seem as bad off as the others, but even she was sporting a large bruise on her arm that was just starting to surface. _That is going to hurt later. I know I got several from the Inuzuka and dog I fought._ I sighed. Mom had told me that fights were noisy, messy, chaotic things, and of course she was right. I saw one of the sensei go over to the tree and sweep up the remains of my now bloody and broken bento box. Nara-sensei motioned for us to follow as we were led out of the yard with two sensei and two of the ANBU escorting us and keeping the two groups separated. _Good, hopefully this won't get out of control again._

If I thought the long wait to be shown into the Hokage's office was unbearable, it was only exacerbated when several parents showed up, with my father in his full Chūnin outfit leading the charge. Iroha's father showed up not far behind, clad in formal Hyūga whites and features set in a carefully blank expression that made me nervous all over again. A dozen or so other parents crowded the room, all with varying looks of upset and worry. Their individual expressions differed, but they all radiated that parental aura of "you're in trouble now!" _We are in deep shit. Breathe Kamiko, just breathe. Tell the truth and you shouldn't be in too much trouble, but then again we promised to the Hokage last year that we would not perform that combo unless explicitly supervised. BREATHE!_ My dad, in spite of his thunderous face, knelt down next to me and pulled my now crusty hand away from my nose and began a quick examination to determine if it had been broken or not. I felt a surge of shame and anger and affection that made my eyes tear up again.

Then the Hokage's doors opened, and everyone, including our parents, were ushered in. My friends and I were to one side with each of our parents standing ominously behind us while the older students and their parents were on the other side with the four 'guards' standing quietly in between the two groups. As Nara-sensei entered, he closed the door behind him. The tension was so thick that it felt like it might snap like a rubber band. _Why do I feel like I am at a gallows or something?_ I knew we were in the right, intellectually, but convincing my gut to believe that was proving difficult. It was churning so much, I felt like I might puke.

After a brief moment that felt like an eternity, the Hokage lit his pipe, took a long puff and cleared his throat. "So, back again I see," he said, eyes sweeping across to me and my friends, "and this time you've brought along quite a few others." He did a slow penetrating sweep of the room, with his gaze coming to rest briefly on each of us. "Dare I ask what brought you here this time?"

"Hokage-sama, it seems that a brawl occurred during lunch recess and culminated with Kamiko Uchiha, Jetti Uchiha, Iroha Hyūga, and Kushina Uzumaki performing the combination jutsu which you explicitly forbade them to use without direct permission. No one was directly harmed, though several people were knocked prone by the blast. That said, the brawl was very rough; more what I'd expect to see from a bunch of angry civilians than academy students." Nara-sensei stated coolly then added, "Their stories do not exactly match up but it seems that this group," motioning to our side, "was sitting under a tree eating lunch when this group decided that they wanted that spot and wished to use physical force to remove them." motioning to the older students. "While it has been suggested that while this was not the first confrontation between these two groups of students, it appears that this is the first time it became an physical altercation."

The Hokage sat there quietly with his hands folded in front of him on the desk for a long while, during which I hazarded a quick glance at my father. I was surprised to see that while he was displeased at this turn of events, he was carrying worried lines in the corners of his eyes and mouth. Every so often, his eyebrow twitched madly. _Wow, I have never seen him worried before; this must be something much larger than I expected._

I quickly snapped my eyes forward as the Hokage spoke up. "I am very displeased. You are all not only citizens of the village, but prospective ninja. This is NOT how ninja of this village interact with each other. I don't particularly care what caused it to become physical, but I can't overlook the fact that it has." The tension in the room seemed to grow heavier as he focused his attention on the other group, frowning heavily. "You all will not only receive detention each weekend for the remainder of the school year, you will have to take this year over again, if you wish to take the Genin Test." Looks of stunned disbelief met his pronouncement. Brownie's mouth opened and closed, her face reddening as she looked like she might cry. "Furthermore, whether you choose to re-do your academy year again or not, you will be doing community service for the village for one year. You are dismissed." as he waved for two of the 'guards' to take them out. They filed out in a single file, each one of them staring at the floor as their parents followed, shame and disappointment clear on their faces. A few quiet moments passed before the doors closed behind them again. The Hokage turned to us once more.

"Now for you four..." He let out a long sigh. "Trouble seems to follow or find you. While I don't think you did anything to instigate this incident, I will encourage you to be wary in the future. They will resent you for this, and while they will probably not be so foolish as to openly defy my will, they will doubtless find ways to make your lives difficult in the months to come." He looked at each of us directly in turn. "I should reprimand you for performing the combination jutsu, but it is obvious to me that in this instance you were only trying to prevent further bloodshed. My rule on it still stands and if you perform it again, you will have a punishment befitting the crime of disobeying your Hokage, is that clear?" he said with great emphasis on that last part.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." all four of us said in unison, loudly and without hesitation.

"Good to hear," as a smile came to his face, "now, I think classes are done for today, so I hope that you use your time productively and study. Now off with you."

My dad's hand never left my shoulder as the guards walked us out and as we walked home in almost complete silence. It only tightened in the " _you're in so much trouble_ " way when we got in sight of the house and my mother could see us walking towards her.

* * *

The remainder of the school year was boring by comparison, but one good thing came out of this situation. The rest of the academy knew that we were on thin ice, and that the older students had been severely punished for their actions. It helped that a girl in our class was the younger sister of Brownie. _Surprise, surprise. Who would have guessed that the girl from Kunoichi class who picked on Kushina would be Brownie's bratty little sister?_ I thought sarcastically. _I guess it runs in the family._ Thankfully, the remainder of the year was smooth. We pulled top grades in our tests for both the written and practical exams. Jetti also scored much higher this time, though he was narrowly beat by that yellow haired kid who sits down near the front. _Onto our fourth year after this short summer break. I kind of miss my old summer breaks that were two months long, but this three-week one isn't too bad. I guess they figure two months of downtime is too much._

The first week of summer, I had a sleepover with Kushina and Iroha at my place. I was a bit giddy at this, as I had always had this fantasy as a guy of how crazy girl sleepovers were. Now that I was a girl, though, I doubted that we'd be doing anything beyond staying up late chatting and munching on snacks. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was not too far different than when I had sleepovers as a guy, though the topics of conversation were different. The big topic of conversation was about our altercation earlier that year.

"Hey, Kushina, you remember that girl that was picking on you during the first day of Kunoichi class?" I asked.

"How could I not?" she responded as if she wished she could.

"Well, birds of a feather," I said, "She is the younger sister of that brown haired girl you fought, I guess it runs in their blood to pick fights."

Iroha interjected laughing, "Who knows, it might be their family's Kekkei Genkai."

At this we all broke out into a giggle fest. The night continued in that vein, with us chatting, swapping stories, and laughing at each other's antics until we all passed out. As I settled down for sleep, I thought to myself, _I hope this next school year is better than the last, or at least more interesting._

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, sorry it took longer to get out real life got in the way. I also wish to continue to give thanks to** **frodoschick** **and** **Halbyrd** **on co-writing without them this story wouldn't be as well written as it is.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Flashy Entrance

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

" **Technique Casting"**

"YELLING"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 7 - Flashy Entrance**

The summer between my third year and fourth had one colossal surprise. Mom and Dad sat me down on the couch. Mom sat across from me while Dad sat next to me with one arm hugging me from the side. _This must be something big._ "Kamiko, sweetie, you know we love you dearly." _Yup. You don't ease somebody into pleasant news._ "We wanted to let you know before anybody else, so you wouldn't be surprised: I am pregnant. This means you will have either a little sister or little brother in a little over half a year from now. The new baby is going to take a lot of our attention while they're very young, because they have so much growing and learning to do. This doesn't mean we love you any less though, ok? You are both our precious and irreplaceable children."

 _Why are they so worried? It's not like I'm an only child..._ I mentally smacked my forehead with the heel of my palm as my brain got fully into gear. _Oh, duh, I_ am _an only child, this time around. It has been a long time, but it would be nice to have a little brother again._ I considered for a moment. _For that matter, a sister wouldn't be bad either; I've never had one of those._ All this internal monologue meant I was silent for quite a while; Mom and Dad started giving each other concerned glances. I only barely noticed, though. As soon as I came out of my trance, I startled them with a barrage of questions, "Awesome, how long have you two known? When is she or he due? Will I have to share a room? Is there anything you need to me to do around the home to help out?"

They were a little startled at the sudden stream of questions, but pleased nonetheless. The answers came slowly at first, as they got out of comfort-the-distraught-child mode. "We have known for only for a few weeks, but the doctors say she is about two months along. That means the baby should be due in late winter or early spring. No, you will not have to share a room, but yes there will be a lot of things that will need to change around here. For starters, your room will need to be kept cleaner," my father said. There must have been a sour look on my face, because he quickly added, "It's for the health of your mother while she is pregnant, and the baby when it comes, and to be honest your health as well. Have you seen your room lately? It looks like a warzone in there." He chuckled at that last part.

* * *

True to their word, I spent the remainder of summer break either cleaning the house or training in the backyard. During the last weeks of break, I wanted to get some distance to train so that I wouldn't get interrupted with a "Honey, can you help us with...?" every five minutes or so. With that in mind, I went to one of the clan's training fields. When I got there I saw a young boy wearing a Konoha headband doing some impressive taijutsu kata in the otherwise empty field. _Huh. He's actually really good. Like, not just civilian-good, but ninja-good._ He was so intensely focused that I wasn't sure if he noticed me at first, but once he finished he walked over to me.

"Hello, I haven't seen you here before. You look a little young to be on the field unaccompanied." I must have had a defensive look on my face, because he immediately raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, that's fine, I'm not your sensei or anything. You're welcome to train here as long as you don't get in my way." He studied me for a moment. "Academy student, right?" At my nod, he continued, "I am a genin, for now, and a true ninja of the village," he said, puffing out his chest and thumbing his forehead protector in an unconscious display of pride, "but as a fellow Uchiha I am willing to help you out with some of your academy stuff if you want." he said, his tone just a tad bit pompous.

"I am good on academy stuff, it is easy enough. They haven't taught us anything 'major' see?" I said and then whispered, " **Henge no Jutsu**." Without hand seals, I transformed into a near perfect copy of him, but I cheekily included a Chuunin vest. _Show off to establish my cred, and stroke his ego a bit so it doesn't come off as aggressive. Easy._ He took a single step back in surprise.

"Well, I see you are more than proficient on that one," he said trying to regain some sense of superiority. "But there are a total of three major jutsu you will need to learn to graduate: Henge, Bunshin, and Kawarimi. If you ask me, I think Nawanuke should be on the list as well. That one allows you to escape hand bindings. I would be willing to teach you the basics of these jutsu IF you will follow my instructions perfectly."

I scratched my head thinking then said, "I have no problem following instructions." then slyly added, "As long as the instructions make sense; I am not going to mindlessly follow. I am not a lemming, after all," I said, smiling up at this young boy. "So, my name is Kamiko, what is yours?"

"What is a lemming?" He looked at me, puzzlement written on his face for a moment, then shook it off. "Never mind that, you say don't recognize me?" he asked, shocked and a little disbelieving. I shook my head, and his expression shifted to exasperation. I could tell by the set of his shoulders that he wasn't exactly displeased to get a chance to talk about himself, though. "Well then, I am Uchiha Fugaku, son of the clan head." He emphasized the last two words with more than a little pride. He then turned to regard me more fully, as if he was only now really paying attention to my presence. "I have heard of you; from what I heard you not only have your Sharingan unlocked—unusual for a girl—but you also did it at a younger age than almost anyone in the clan records." His gaze took on a slightly critical cast. "I've also heard that you had a major detention with the Hokage last summer and nearly recieved another again this summer."

"Well, Fugaku-son-of-the-clan-head, is there something I can call you that is shorter than that? Or do I need to use the full title each time?" I asked with a little humor in my voice.

"Just Fugaku will do." he said trying to hide his smile.

"Okay, Just Fugaku, where do you want to start?" I asked trying to stifle a giggle and hide a slight blush. At that his resolve broke and he laughed. I joined in, and with the ice now thoroughly broken, we settled in to work.

* * *

Over the following week and a half, he spent a few hours going over the basics of the academy jutsu, hand signs, the drawbacks, etc. He was surprised at how quick of a study I was in most subjects. The Nawanuke technique, though, turned out to be a stumbling block. I worked on that one clear through to the end of summer break, with no success.

"I guess I got a technique to work on this year," I said, trying not to grumble too much. "Thanks for the guidance, 'Just Fugaku', I hope to see you around."

He chuckled and replied, "Come back anytime this year; if I am here I will help you."

 _I think I got him to loosen up a bit during all those training sessions but he still has that 'Uchiha superiority' thing going on. Hopefully I'll get a chance to hang out with him more this year and get to see him do more of those kata — no, No, NO I...was...not...just thinking that! He...is...a...guy, I am — was a guy. GAAAAH! Okay Kamiko, calm down. He is going to be the next clan head, so getting to know him and to like you AS A NINJA is a good thing._ About that time I got home, which was just the distraction I needed. "I am home, sorry for being out so long. Do you need help in the kitchen?"

Mom answered back, "Yes, sweetie, come in here and wash up, and then help me slice up the vegetables for dinner."

I entered the kitchen, tying my hair up into a hasty ponytail, and immediately went for the sink to wash my hands. In my old life I was...not _horrible_ in the kitchen, but I was not usually allowed to make things unattended. Thankfully, my Mom really spent the time to teach me everything she knew about cooking. At the time, I just thought she was making up for the lack of daughters in the family, but She knew that I would have to know later on. _Though maybe not for this exact reason._

Tonight was a special night; it wasn't just the start of the new year at the academy but also—and more importantly—it was my Dad's birthday. I wanted to get him something nice for a change, so I had been saving up some of my spending money to buy him a new set of calligraphy brushes and a nice bottle of ink. I knew he used it for work, and I hoped he would like it. I had it all wrapped up and hidden in my dresser, one of the few places I thought he wouldn't look. _Though with ninja parents, you never know..._

Dinner prep went smoothly. I had become very adept at dicing things up; good knife work and steady hands helped a ton. _Thank you academy for teaching me more than I thought I ever wanted to know about a knife._

I heard Dad enter the house and yelled out to him before he could say anything, "Welcome home, Daddy." I rushed out of the kitchen and gave him a big tackle hug.

"So what have my two most favorite women been doing today?" He asked with a huge smile as he hugged me back. He then went over to mom and kissed her.

"Well we have been _slaving_ in the kitchen forever, or at least mom has, and I have been training with Fugaku." I answered trying to not blush, "He has been showing me some of the academy jutsu and I think I got the basics of them."

"Love, go get changed and relax; dinner will be ready soon." Mom replied shooing Dad away before he could respond. She then grabbed my hand and dragged me back into the kitchen. "You go set the table, and while you're doing that, what is this about training with Fugaku-sama? You do know he is going to be the next clan head, right?" she asked with a look on her face that practically shouted 'spill the beans!'.

"Well, about two weeks ago, after the sleepover, I went to one of the clan training fields to get some more space to run. I saw someone training, so I waited until he was done. Well one thing led to another, and he offered to instruct me in the academy basics." I said. Realizing how that sounded, I quickly added, "It was nothing too major."

Mom grinned at this and hugged me. "Someone has their first cru~sh," she said in a teasing sing-song voice.

"Mommm…" I groaned, "Seriously, I am too young to be thinking about...boys." _Sorry Mom, but that's just not going to happen, like, ever._ A treacherous part of my mind started replaying all the times I had caught myself staring at his butt. _He_ _ **is**_ _in pretty good shape… NO NO NO, stop that, stop that right now! Stupid brain._

With impeccable timing, Dad came in just in time to see me lit up like a paper lantern. He glanced at Mom, then sighed nodding knowingly, "Well this dinner looks lovely, but not as lovely as the two most special people in my life." As he watched Mom sit down gingerly, he added, "Soon to be three."

"Da~d…" I groaned again and my face glowed brighter, "Just eat already and stop embarrassing us!" To keep my foot out of my mouth, I decided to stuff it with food instead.

Dinner went well, we laughed and had some idle chat about Dad's work at the police department. Thankfully, he spared my poor flaming face by not bringing up the subject of Fugaku. After dinner we all went to the living room, and Dad sat down in his favorite chair.

"This is for you, Love." Mom said handing Dad a rather large long rectangular box. He quickly unwrapped it. He paused as he slowly opened the box and pulled out a rather beautiful looking wakizashi with a black and crimson scabbard. It had a small Uchiha clan symbol engraved into both the the scabbard and on the butt of the pommel. I was so entranced by the blade that I completely missed Mom trying to get my attention. She pulled me out of my daze by poking me in the side.

"Oh, sorry, what a beautiful sword." I apologized then continued as I handed him my small present and he handed me the sword to hold, "Here is my present Daddy, I hope you will enjoy it." _Wow, my present pales in comparison to this, but at least I know he will get a lot of use out of it._

He opened my present a little slower but his smile was no smaller once he finished unwrapping it. "Thank you, you two. I will enjoy both of these immensely."

* * *

That next year was rather uneventful, with the _small_ exception of my new baby brother crawling all around the house and almost always getting underfoot. _Little Obito, you're excellent for dodge training,_ I thought wryly. _It's incredible how something that is so small can be so...so chaotic and frustrating. Damn it, why do you have to be so damn adorably cute doing that cute baby coo? I think he started crawling earlier than I did._

Thankfully, the academy kept me busy. It was informative, but not too exciting. Eventually, the time came for our graduation exam I couldn't speak for the others, but I was far from nervous. Nara-sensei and two other sensei were presiding over our tests.

First up was the written test. _A cake-walk in my opinion, they didn't teach us anything bookwise that would be too hard to memorize._ About 40 minutes later, we were all ushered out to the training field. They called out each of our names in turn, and had us do basic shuriken and kunai throwing. _Easy as breathing, we will all ace this test,_ I thought, cockily. I was sure I'd be top of the class, but that odd kid with a haircut like a yellow puff-ball beat my score by a solid margin. _Did he seriously just_ _ **stack**_ _kunai on the bull's eye?_

Next was Taijutsu matches; unfortunately for me I was pitted against Kushina.

"You may use any and all Taijutsu moves, no Ninjutsu." Nara-sensei said pointedly.

"So it's just you and me in here Kushina; let's have some fun!" I said with a huge smirk on my face as I settled into a combative stance.

"It is so on, dattebane!" Kushina replied as she also got prepared. Then she charged me head on with a straight punch; I brushed it aside, and she followed up with a leg sweep which I deftly jumped over.

"Come on," I taunted as I threw a quick jab at her side and it landed, "Is that the best you can do?"

She smirked, then came at me. Our match lasted for a good three minutes before time was called and we were given passes on the Taijutsu portion.

Iroha's turn was up next, and she was matched up with Brownie's sister. _Totally unfair, sensei, she is going to destroy that brat._ Sure enough, forty seconds later Iroha was smoothly straightening up out of Jyūken stance; the other girl was lying almost prone, shaking with the effort of keeping her head up out of the dirt.

"That...is...unfair, she...was using...jutsu," the girl complained, gasping for breath every few words. "She...paralyzed...my arms!" the girl whined to Nara-sensei.

"She used nothing except her clan's taijutsu style. Perhaps you should have spent more time this year figuring out how to counter it, and less time trying to get her in trouble with me." Nara-sensei said, shaking his head in disbelief. He sighed, then looked down at the clipboard in his off hand. "Inuzuka, Aburame, you're up next!"

After fifty minutes or so, we had finished all the matches and were being ushered back to the classrooms in various states of dishevelment. "When I've finished speaking, go line up in the hallway. You'll be called in one at a time for the ninjutsu test."

When they called my name, I found my hands shaking slightly. I took a few deep breaths, and managed to steady them. _This is easy, you've got this._ Internal pep-talk over, I stepped inside.

"Okay, Uchiha Kamiko, I want you to perform Bunshin no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu and one jutsu of your choice that can be safely performed inside." Nara-sensei instructed.

 _Yeah, yeah, I get the message: no Grand Fireball Jutsu indoors. I may be hot headed sometimes, but that doesn't mean I have a death wish._ "Yes, sensei," I responded then went through the hand signs for Bunshin— _Ram, Snake, Tiger_ —and with a poof four clones appeared; two to each side of me.

"Very well done, now Henge no Jutsu."

"Yes Sensei," I said as I dispelled my clones after having all of my clones mimic what I said then I mentally went through the hand signs for Henge but didn't perform them physically— _Dog, Boar, Ram_ —and I transformed into a perfect copy of Nara-sensei. "How is this, Sensei?"

The other two sensei raised their eyebrows at this but Nara-sensei, who was well used to my shenanigans, didn't show any sign of surprise. "Well performed. Seal-less too, well done. Now Kawarimi no Jutsu with one of the logs here in the room."

 _Just one of the logs? Bah, I can do better than that. Iro-chan, Kushina-chan, Jetti-kun and I didn't play Replacement tag every day during lunch breaks for nothing. We can even swap with_ _ **each other**_ _, though that takes a willing target and a lot more juice._ I went through the hand signs quickly— _Tiger, Boar, Ox, Dog, Snake—_ and with another poof I swapped places with one of the logs near the back of the room. Not done yet, I then went through the hand signs again even faster and swapped with the same log again, reappearing back in my original spot in front of the sensei. "Will that be sufficient, Sensei?" I asked, trying to hold back the smirk I knew was trying to cross my face.

Nara-sensei and the other two looked very impressed, though they tried to hide it. "Okay, now one jutsu of your choice, if you want. This is not a requirement, but it is considered extra credit."

 _Hmm, what should I do? I want to really impress them, but I can't do an elemental jutsu here—it's not safe. I could try that jutsu Fugaku-kun showed me; he said the basics are simple and the Sharingan partially counters the tunnel vision that the jutsu inflicts. Might as well try._ I put up the hand sign for Tiger while activating my Sharingan, and with a poof I disappeared. In the blink of an eye, I "teleported" across the room.

"YATTA, I finally got it right!" I yelled out as I turn to face the sensei and was greeted by stunned looks on their faces.

Nara-sensei was the first to recover, "Hmm, I think you are the first academy student to perform that technique. Well done, you pass."

In a fit of excitement I tried the technique again. I was happy to see it worked again as I "teleported" right in front of the desk.

"You will receive your headband at the graduation ceremony this weekend," Nara-sensei continued as he handed me a card, a smile crossed his face. "Normally we would need to tally up the points from all three portions of the exam, but your score on that practical was enough to put you over the line by itself."

"As you leave, please have the next person come in," one of the other sensei said as I headed to the door. Once out, I hugged Iroha who was next in line, "Iroha, you're up next. Good luck; I'll be rooting for you!"

My face was stuck in a manic grin as I rushed through the academy towards the exit. In my haste I bumped into someone who was as solid as a brick wall. Looking up I saw a broad man with long, spiky white hair that came down just below his shoulders. He kept it out of his face with a large forehead protector with the 油 (oil) character on it. The rest of his outfit was just as odd; he wore an olive green gi with ninja mesh armor poking out at the sleeves and collar, a red haori, and red geta on his feet. A huge scroll was poking out behind his back; he wore it slung at his waist like a hip pouch. As I looked up into his face I thought I recognized him from somewhere, though I couldn't put my finger on where. "Sorry, didn't see you there." I said taking a small bow.

"No problem, young one." He said as he eyed me up and down like he was judging me somehow. Then whispered almost under his breath. "You will make one fine kunoichi when your growth spurt hits."

 _Wow, that leer is way more disturbing when I'm the target._ I wasn't eager to start something here, but this was too much. "Really? You think so? Well, who are you so I can tell my parents that you said I would make a _Fine_ Kunoichi?" I asked, a mask of false sincerity on my face. _Two can play at this game._

"You don't recognize me?" the man said, clearly shocked. He seemed to recover, then went into this utterly silly pose that looked like something straight of a Kabuki play. "I am the Great Jiraiya, the Sannin of the Second Shinobi War."

 _Did he just come up with that dumbass pose? It looks like it's supposed to be Kabuki, but he's so sloppy I can hardly tell. Also, what is it with this village and ninja egomaniacs? There are hundreds of Jōnin in Konoha, no way am I going to be able to remember them all. Well, if that title's for real then he's no schmuck._ "Well, Great-Jiraiya-the-Sannin-of-the-Second-Shinobi-War, it was nice to meet you but I am on my way home. Good day!" I said, giving him a polite but perfunctory bow. _Title plus eccentric equals dangerous. Don't piss him off, but don't give him a reason to linger either._ Before he could do more than open his mouth, I had zipped around the corner and out the front door.

After a few minutes all my friends had made it outside, heads held high with smiles on their faces. As they came into view, I let out a breath that I didn't notice I was holding in.

"I can assume you all passed?" I asked tentatively.

"Of course I passed, I'm the future Hokage, dattebane!" Kushina shouted and caused a slight echo. A few bypassers turned and shook their heads as they passed outside the courtyard.

"So~, I've got an idea for our last prank on Nara-sensei." I whispered as we walked back to my home, "I will give you the details after we get home."

* * *

When the day of the graduation ceremony came, it felt like the whole village was buzzing. _Huh, wasn't expecting the ceremony to be this big,_ I reflected as I sat in my assigned seat. _Guess the graduating class was extra large this year._ The ceremony was held in the front courtyard, with rows of seats facing towards a temporary stage erected for the event. A big banner reading "Konoha Academy Graduation Ceremony" was held up behind the stage, raised up so that everyone could see it over the heads of the people standing on stage.

The students were seated in the first few rows, with the parents behind them and whoever else wanted to show up in the back rows. I was sitting with Jetti to my right and Kushina and Iroha to my left. _Okay Kamiko, stop smiling too broadly or it will ruin all the planning we've done these last two days._

Nara-sensei walked up onto the podium and surprisingly so did the Hokage. Once there, the Hokage started to give a speech about how while this might mark the end of our time in the academy, we should remember that learning is a lifelong pursuit, and that a true shinobi always strives to improve themselves, and blah blah blah.. It wasn't a bad speech, honestly, but I was too preoccupied to do more than let an idle corner of my brain memorize it for later, as I had with most of Nara-sensei's lectures in class. _Crap, we didn't expect_ _ **him**_ _to be here. Oh well, I guess this is going to be our final prank on him too._

They efficiently called us up one at a time to receive our headbands as well as a card with our team assignments with little time between each of us. The Hokage was handing us the headbands and Nara-sensei and the two others that proctored the test were handing out the cards with our team assignments on them. _God I am nervous, I hope I get put on a team with people I can get along with. I doubt that the Hokage would allow any of our little group to be put on the same team. Not only would that mean more than one kunoichi on a team, unless I got put on a team with Jetti, we would be mayhem for our sensei. Darn it, when will they call our names? I am getting a bit tired here._

About that time Iroha's name was called and she walked proudly to the stage. She slowly, almost serenely, strode across it to the Hokage, and as she put her hand out to receive the headband, _poof_ , she disappeared.

At the same time, the real Iroha jumped off the top of the academy building and floated down to the stage, using a noisy and flashy wind ninjutsu to slow her descent. She landed right in front of the Hokage on one knee and put her hand out to receive the headband smiling brightly. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

He cocked a small smile and handed the headband to her. She then walked over to Nara-sensei and received the card.

"At least I won't have to deal with their antics after this." Nara-sensei muttered to himself as she took the card from his hand and was walking back to her seat.

When the rest of our group was called up we each did something to stand out slightly, Jetti was the most subdued, contenting himself with doing a "Yatta" as he was exiting the stage. I took it upon myself to do a disappearing act, both to the stage and back to my seat. _Most of them will probably think I just did a near sealless Replacement Jutsu. Hehe, next I've got to figure out how to truly move faster. I wish I could actually teleport like wizards do in fantasy novels, but I've never heard of a jutsu that good._

The rest of the ceremony was rather simple after our little stunts, so much so that I got bored and actually got a chance to look at the card Nara-sensei handed me. It read:

Team 4: Iroha Hyūga, Minato Namikaze, and Kamiko Uchiha

Jonin sensei: Jiraiya of the Sannin

First meeting is at Third Training Grounds at 9 am Monday

Come with full mission equipment

I read it over twice, each time getting hung up on my new sensei. _Oh God, why did we get stuck with the perverted kabuki dork?_ I wanted to sigh in frustration, but somebody would have noticed, and I _really_ didn't want to have to explain this to anyone.

Looking for something to distract me from my impending doom, I leaned over and saw that Jetti was reading his card too. I glanced at who he got as a sensei and raised an eyebrow. _Hmmm, Orochimaru of the Sannin. Hell, I would have taken him over Jiraiya. He's not exactly friendly, but at least he knows his stuff._

"Wow, you got Orochimaru of the Sannin! Congratulations; wanna switch?" I whispered to Jetti, half jokingly and half serious. He laughed, and I continued. "It looks like both of us are going to be taught by Sannin, I hope they are as knowledgeable and powerful as everyone thinks they are."

Jetti looking pale nodded, "I don't know what I did to deserve one of the Sannin, you three were always the brains behind everything we did, prank or study wise."

"You are plenty smart Jetti, you got second on the class ranks for the boys." He didn't look terribly reassured. "Oh come on, you will do great; would I lie to my favorite cousin?" I reassured him.

"Favorite, huh? Is that why you fed me those bon-bons laced with medical-grade laxatives?" he asked with a wry expression on his face.

I grimaced faintly at that. "Those were meant for Choza; I just got the labels mixed up. Come on, haven't I always had your back when it counts?"

He smiled faintly. "Yeah, you have." He frowned slightly in thought. "Well, someone as powerful as Orochimaru can get whoever he wants; I guess that means I've got something worthwhile, huh?"

"That's the spirit!" I cheered, clapping him on the back.

* * *

Afterwards I met up with my Mom and Dad. As we walked home I asked, "Dad, how strong is Jiraiya?"

He paused for a half second, "He is a very strong ninja; he was one of the greatest war heroes in the last Shinobi War—but he is a bit eccentric."

"Well, I am on a team with Iroha and a boy named Minato Namikaze; he got top ranking for the boys in the class. Our sensei is going to be Jiraiya." I said both happy and a bit wary. _I really hope that he is not a complete perv, and that he is serious when it counts._

"Well, I am happy you got on a team with one of your friends." Mom said, "Jiraiya-sama will be a good sensei, you can learn a lot from one of the Sannin."

"Jetti got Orochimaru," I stated, "I have heard more about him, what made Jiraiya so special?"

"Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade were all taught by the Third Hokage, and some say one of them will probably be the next Hokage if the Third steps down." Dad casually said, "He also is the holder of the Toad summon contract, and he along with the other Sannin fought Hanzō of the Salamander. You must have read about them in your history books."

"Huh, guess he is more powerful than I thought," I said absentmindedly. "Toad summon contract?"

"Yes, Toad summons," Dad said. "Any kind of summoning contract is rare, but the toads are especially well known for their strength and perseverance."

"You have already met Jiraiya-sama?" Mom exclaimed distracting me. "Well, what do you want for your celebratory dinner?

"I would love noodles and vegetables with beef." I said as we got home. "Dad, while Mom is working on dinner, can you help me figure out what I need to pack for my first squad meeting?"

"Sure, my little Firecracker," Dad said chuckling.

"Daaaad, don't call me that." I whined, "You haven't called me that since I was little."

Dinner was great and the next day Mom and I went out to get some new gear for becoming a Genin. _If nothing else I will be well prepared for Monday. I just hope it all goes well._

Omake: To Catch a Toad

" _Geez, why would they chose now to call me, of all times? I'm missing out on some prime observation time here!"_ thought Jiraiya as he walked casually down the streets of Konoha towards the center of town. " _After all, those onsen aren't going to watch themselves._ _I suppose I'll just have to make up for it with a late-night session at the Peony Pavilion!"_ Passersby shied away from the white-haired man as he giggled to himself in a disturbing way, flexing his fingers in little groping motions. " _Oh, the sacrifices I make for my art!"_

As he rounded the corner and came in sight of the Hokage monument towering over the village, he got his perverted impulses under control and approached the admin building with something resembling dignified calm. The door guards waved him through into the Hokage's office, where the old man stood flanked by a pair of sour-faced civilians from the village's council of elders.

"Yo Sensei, what's happenin?" Jiraiya asked with a faux-casual grin. " _Here's hoping they're just going to lecture me about my choice of research venues again."_

Taking a long draw on his pipe, the Hokage smiled ominously. "Now that you have had a long time to settle into your role as a Jōnin of Konoha, we feel it's time for you to take on a Genin team." The sour-faced man to his right held out a slim folder as the wizened shinobi continued. "On that note, here are the files for this year's graduating class, take your pick."

A bit stunned, Jiraiya looked at his sensei for a moment, then reached out and grabbed the folder. After a brief glance he saw a page that caught his eye. "Him, Namikaze Minato." he responded, snapping the folder shut with a false air of unconcern. _Please just go with it, please just go with it..._

The woman to the left scowled at the white-haired sage. "And the other two?"

"Can't I just train him?" Jiraiya asked, a note of pleading entering his voice.

" _No_!" all three shot back at once, glaring at him in creepy unison.

"Even your old teammate has taken three students this year." Utatane Koharu stated blandly.

 _Damn._ Rubbing the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger, he sighed theatrically. "Ok, ok, just give me a minute then." He reopened the folder and flipped through it quickly, scrunching up his nose a bit as if at a bad smell. As he neared the end of the list, his eyes lighted on two names in particular, and his face took on a deceptively placid grin. "Well then how about...Uchiha Kamiko and Hyūga Iroha?" He allowed the grin to widen a bit as he snapped the folder shut again. "Yes, those two will be perfect, I won't take anyone else!" _No way are those stubborn old farts going to let me have a team with two kunoichi in it, especially these two little princesses_ , he thought, mentally patting himself on the back. _They'll be too afraid of me "corrupting" daughters of the two biggest clans in Konoha, troublemakers or no. With any luck, they'll just give up and leave me to train the boy in peace._

"Very well," the Hokage replied, in a tone so mild butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. "The team assignments are announced tomorrow morning; be sure to inform Nara-san before then of where and when you want to meet them. That is all."

Both elders choked a bit as they turned to stare at Sarutobi, who just smiled pleasantly and lowered his head so the hat concealed his eyes. Neither one said a word, though their glares spoke volumes. Jiraiya made his escape while they were still trying to stare holes through the Hokage hat, though he couldn't completely suppress a shell-shocked look as he walked down the hallway towards the academy section. _What did I just get myself into?_

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Sorry for the delay, hurricane prep and recovery massively slowed getting this out. We will try to get the next out one quicker. I also wish to continue to give thanks to** **Halbyrd** **on co-writing without them this story wouldn't be as good.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Firsts

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

I am trying to pull most of my resources on timeline from the manga, but I am only human so if any of my readers have any insight that I have missed on the timeline do drop me a message.

"Speech"

-Sign Language-

" **Technique Casting"**

"YELLING"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 8 - Firsts**

Monday early morning, I stood there in front of the mirror in my room studying myself. _I love this tight dark blue shirt; it is a bit long on the torso but who cares. Seriously though, Mom, why a skirt? At least you allowed me to have full leg mesh tights. Wait, when did I start to care about my looks?_ I shook my head and discarded that line of thought. _So now I'm a real ninja. Sure, we'll probably be stuck on milk runs and busy work for a while, but still, we'll be taking actual missions. That means I'll...eventually have to kill someone. Will I freeze up when I'm faced with that?_

That brought me up short. _I'd like to think I'll be able to go through with it; my life or my teammates' lives may depend on it._ Firming my resolve, I nodded to my reflection. _If it's to save Iroha, no doubt! Minato...is a pretty okay guy. I care more about him than some random enemy ninja, anyway._

Looking down, I studied my profile in more detail. Sadly, the puberty fairy had mostly skipped over me. Squishing my almost non-existent chest, I frowned. _I really wish my body would start to fill out some already. Being one of the shortest and flattest in my graduating class sure isn't doing me any favors in the Kunoichi department._ I dismissed that line of thought with an eye-roll. _Meh, forget that honeypot nonsense. I'm an Uchiha, we're all combat specialists! Being the strongest girl in my year has to count for something, right?_ I caught myself and chuckled a bit. _Well, except for Kushina, anyway. She's got to be cheating though, no way can a girl that skinny put out that kind of power with just muscles._

"I wonder what our _new_ sensei will have us doing for our first team meeting? Okay, double check you have everything, he said full mission equipment." Suiting actions to words, I went over my mental checklist as I verified that, yes, everything was present and accounted for.

Shouldering my small pack, I put a half-dozen or so throwing kunai in my hip pouch as I walked out of my room. Casually braiding my hair to one side thinking _thankfully I left with plenty of time to get there_ , I rounded a corner and saw the fruit stand was being opened for the morning. "Good morning, Grandma Matsu, can I get three apples please? I am on my way to meet my new genin team."

"But of course dear; who is your sensei?" Matsu asked politely as she one by one tossed me the apples and I quickly shoved them into my pack.

"Jiraiya is my sensei, and I am teamed up with Hyūga Iroha and Namikaze Minato," I answered quickly as I zipped up my pack. "Hopefully my first team meeting goes well; I have heard the horror stories of the Genin Corps and I really don't want to be placed there."

"You will do fine dear." she smiled with a small twinkle in her eyes as she waved me off.

"Well I am off; hopefully by the end of the day I will have good news," I shouted back to her as she went back to setting up her little fruit stall.

* * *

I wasn't a bit surprised to see Iroha standing in the middle of the training ground. She was doing some "basic" Hyūga kata. _Wow I never noticed that Iroha's movements are so beautiful; it's almost like a dance. I wish my clan's taijutsu was that fluid. Its evasive, yes, but it never has felt right. Anywho._ Clearing my throat as she finished that set, I called out to her. "G'morning Iroha, hungry?" I asked as I tossed one of the apples to her as I took a bite out of another.

About a minute later Minato showed up and I quickly pulled out the last apple and tossed it to him as I said, "Hope you like apples."

"Mmm," Minato said with a mouthful of apple.

"Sooo, I am Kamiko and this is Iroha. We haven't really interacted much in class but looks like we will be on the same team." I said trying to break the ice some as I extended my hand out. _God, why does he have to be so quiet?_

After a painful few seconds of silence Minato said, "Yes I know who you two are. You're friends with Kushina and Uchiha Jetti. Also you four were some of the top in our class." Turning towards me, "Uchiha Kamiko, you're good at ninjutsu and bookwork." Then towards Iroha, "Hyūga Iroha, you're good at taijutsu and also the bookwork."

We both stared at him blankly. _Did he just categorized us both correctly and concisely, like he's been assembling profiles on us? I'm not sure if I should be impressed or concerned. Well, either way, this will be an interesting team._ I shifted gears mentally as my brain latched onto a new observation: _Wait, he called the two of us by our full names, but didn't use Kushina's family name. Interesting._ "True enough, now what would you consider you are good at?"

"I am like you, Kamiko, good at Ninjutsu and bookwork," he said after finishing off the apple and tossing it to the side. "Well, we are a bit early, do you want to do some sparring?"

"Sure, but light contact only. We don't know what our new sensei will be having us do." Iroha said getting up and stretching her arms.

"So, free-for-all?" I proffered standing up. "Boundaries being a little into the wood and that river over there."

"Sounds good." Iroha responded. Minato nodded his agreement.

We settled into our own combat stances. The next few minutes were rough but it definately got my blood pumping. When we called it we were all breathing heavily, but thankfully the worst injuries were a small scorch on Iroha's leg and a ripped sleeve on my shirt caused by one of Minato's kunai. _Surprisingly Minato didn't get that injured probably. Buuuut then again I did mainly focus on Iroha and her me._

"Good fight you three, you will work well together, but ninja don't only fight they must be aware of everything that happens around them at all time." Jiraiya stated as he walked out from behind a tree. "And because of that, you will have one last test before I accept you three brats as my students." smirking broadly. "If you fail this test you will be going back to the academy or be regulated into the genin core."

I raised and eyebrow at this and hazard a glance at Iroha and Minato they both had this look of stunned disbelief. "So we complete this ~ test and we remain a team under you, but if we fail we go back to the academy and have to wait for a new sensei or join the genin core and will probably stay there for most of our career?"

"Yip, you got that right brat. So you wish to continue or do you wanna give up here and now and save me the trouble?" Jiraiya jested with a smirk that was more of a taunt than anything.

"Like I would give up." Both Iroha and I said about the same time and Minato nodded as he said, "Let's do this."

"Okay then, well I will be hiding in various places throughout Konoha but I will say that I will always be in plain sight ~ but I will be utilizing Henge no Jutsu. To make this fair I will give you til sunset to find me and you can use anything and everything at your disposal to find." He said, "Good luck. Oh and here are three tags that you need to slap on me when you find me, bye!" then with a poof he was gone as three odd looking tags floated to the ground.

"Well that was unexpected." I said.

"So how should we go about this?" Minato asked.

"Good question, grid pattern? Circular?" Iroha wondered aloud.

"I think a circular pattern would be smarter. I also feel that while splitting up might make it faster to find him; it would be unwise as I doubt he will let us just tag him with one of these tags." I said as I held up the three tags. I then looked at them carefully, _yeah I have never seen tags like these. They are clearly not explosive tags. I wonder what he gave us. Fuinjutsu was not something I thought about studying in the academy, I know Dad knows the basics enough to recognize standard tags but these are clearly not standard._

"So staying together and circular pattern, but I feel that we should spread out some or this will take a lot longer than a day. How about a street apart?" Minato said. "So that we have a wider search area but close enough that if we find him we can group up quickly. Also, we each should carry a tag so that we can each try to catch him."

"That was probably why he gave us three tags." Iroha stated with her typical straight face.

"Okay then, so I think Iroha and I should be on the edges and you Minato in the middle. Iroha's Byakugan and my Sharingan will give us wider area in our sweep. Also Minato I feel that either Iroha or myself should play distraction while you try to tag him." I said as I handed them a tag each then quickly added, "Not that I think we can't tag him,but I feel we are more apt to be able to play distraction."

"Okay then, I think that is everything let's get going time is running out." Iroha said activating her Byakugan as we stood up and I quickly followed suit activating my Sharingan.

* * *

Wow, I knew that Konoha was big but damn. How can finding one person be so hard. _I doubt he would have used Henge to drastically change his appearance, wasn't it Nara-sensei that said subtle Henge is changing one or two major appearances not full body._ _It is well past midday and we haven't even spotted a single person who stood out of place._ "Hey guys, wanna take a small break and eat another apple? I got 6 more in my pack."

"We should keep looking but a small break might do us good. Also you two need to give your eyes a break, it has to be taxing to keep those active for so long." Minato said stopping on a roof.

"When fighting it can be but for some reason if I am only using it to scout it isn't too bad." Iroha answered back. "Yeah, a small break would be welcome though. Toss me an apple."

Deactivating my eyes I toss one apple to each of them in turn then taking a bite of mine. "Who knew trying to find one person would be so hard? We got another three or four hours til we fail. We have maybe covered a third of the village. We need to either speed this up or spread out more."

"What do we know of our Sensei? Maybe that could give us a clue as to where we might find him." Minato asked looking between us.

"Well, he is one of the Sanin, so he is a powerful ninja. He seemed a bit eccentric but I doubt that will help any." Iroha stated mouth slightly full.

"I hate to bring this up as he is a well respected ninja. I have ran across him before, right after finals. He seemed to be a little pervy when he eyed me in the halls so maybe check the hot spring district or the red-light district?" I proffered up as I finished of the apple. Getting up I reactivated my eyes and tossed on my pack again.

"Wouldn't hurt, the red-light district is close by and the hot spring district isn't too far either." Minato said blushing slightly then quickly added looking a bit terrified as he glanced at us. "Not that I have been to the red-light district nor peeked in on the women's side of the hot springs."

I chuckled, "It's okay Minato, I believe you. But ~ I wouldn't doubt that Jiraiya frequents those two areas."

We then sped to the next district keep a keen eye out for anything that seemed out of place. Minato was actually the first to stop and give us the signal that he spotted something. We rushed over quickly but as stealthily as possible.

-What is it you see?- I signed to him.

-I thought I saw a yellow haired guy, he had a build that was similar. He entered that building over there.- Minato signed pointing to a club that was about a dozen or so yards away. He then added, -His hair was off though.-

-Well I can see through buildings, so let's stake the building out while I inspect this guy- Iroha signed as we snuck closer. After less than a minute she signed to us that the guy Minato spotted was indeed under a Henge and might be him and now the only thing to do was wait for the guy to come out.

-So, Minato and I will take the front entrance, Iroha you able to handle the back exit?- I signed quickly and they both nodded in agreement. _Something is off. What is it? Am I or are we forgetting something? I know it took all day to track him down but still this is too easy, he is a Jonin for crying out loud._

A while later the guy came out of the club by himself with what looked like a bit of swagger in his steps. _Yeah he is about the right build for Jiraiya. I hope we are right about this._ At this I gave Minato the signal and I put up the seal for Shunshin and reappeared in a crouched position with the tag in my left hand as my right hand reached to grab his clothes.

Minato charged in after I reappeared with the tag in hand also trying to slap the man with it. _I may have this technique to move fast but damn Minato you are nearly as fast and that is without a technique._

The man deftly dodged both my attempt to grab him and at the same time redirected Minato's hand that was holding the tag right at me. So I had to roll back to avoid being hit by it. Damn. That. Was. Close. I kept my eye on the man and we locked eyes for a second. There was recognition in his eyes but his smile was the dead giveaway. "We found you, Sensei."

"Yes you have or have you?" the man said as he dodged Iroha's attack that came from behind. _Damn she almost hand him there._

"Minato, Iroha you good?" I asked quickly not moving my head at all and keeping Jiraiya in the center of my vision.

"Yeah, I am good" they both responded getting up.

"Well, now that you have found me what are you going to do?" He taunted with a smirk.

I decided that a verbal response was not the best choice; so I charged at him and at the same time so did Iroha with Minato just like we planned coming up behind us. I threw the first punch in a pincer attack with Iroha while both of us attempted to slap the tag on his sides.

Minato rushed right up the center and attempted to also hit him again with the tag. Right before any of us were going to land our blows Jiraiya almost magically either dodged our blows or parried them. _This is so frustrating, I know we are out of our league here but seriously._

Jiraiya jumped back a little giving maybe a yard or two between us. I noticed that he was smiling way too much to be healthy. "You brats are good, but I don't like this place for us to fight so you will have to find me again, good luck." and with that he vanished.

"DAMN IT!" I shouted out. "We almost had him several times, he is just way too good."

"We will get him next time. That pincer attack worked well" Minato said taking some deep breaths, "Maybe if we can next time we do that but make it a tri-point attack."

"That should work, I clipped him with my first attack. Did you notice his left arm was a bit sluggish?" Iroha asked.

"Yeah I noticed, so his left side will be a bit weaker. Good to know." I said looking up at the sun. "Fuck, the sun is setting we got maybe an hour maybe a little more until we fail."

"So we better get moving then." Minato said getting up and jumped to the roofs.

We followed suit and joined him. _This sucks so much, but I gotta keep faith that we will find him again in the time. This was probably his plan, keeping us looking all day._ We kept scouting and searching for him through the rest of the red light district and into the very open hot spring district. About forty-ish minutes later Minato suddenly halts.

Pointing down at a long red strand of hair he says, "Is that who I think that belongs to?"

I walked over and picked up the long strand taking a close look with my eyes. "I would hate to say no but yeah I really think this is Kushina's" I then look around and so does both my teammates. After a few seconds all of us found more strands almost all of them in a semi-straight line. "I don't like what this is leading to. I really hope this is a misunderstanding."

Minato and Iroha nod in total agreement. Iroha then states, "So we got two choices and frankly only one that makes sense but I am going to say them anyway. Keep looking for Jiraiya-sensei or track down Kushina following these strands of hair."

Minato doesn't even wait to hear our responses and goes charging in the general direction that the hair leads. I let out a long sigh and follow suit with Iroha right behind me. _This sucks but we can't let Minato go all by himself nor leave Kushina to whatever or whoever has got her. I really doubt that her hair would just fall off especially in these numbers in such a short space._

* * *

After being in a dead run for a good fifteen minutes or so we entered some woods. Shortly after that we started to hear what sounded like four people ahead of us. Three of them were clearly adults by the gravely notes in their voices and one was much higher pitched. We all stopped in our tracks and looked at each other. In a whisper I said, "Okay, we need to scout this as stealthily as possible. Minato you go after whoever has Kushina and leave the others for Iroha and myself to handle. Come back and help out one she is secured."

At this Minato jumps up into the trees and disappears. I look to Iroha and I saw the same nervousness I was feeling. _We can do this we only need to catch them by surprise and hopefully get them in one hit._ I signed, -Summon Sensei no Jutsu?-

Iroha nods and I could see the confidence return. We snuck up quietly until we were as close as we dared, I looked over to Iroha and activated my eyes as I nodded.

Three

Two

One

 **Fūton: Reppūshō** (wind: Gale Palm) and **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** (Fire: Great fireball)

The combination flew straight and quick right at the two in the back and then exploded. I saw the two of them fly forward and they rolled sloppily forward and up into a standing position before turning to face us pulling out very large kunai. _Okay we are actually doing this, no turning back now!_ I fell into my combat stance and out of the corner of my vision Iroha did as well.

I saw Minato engage his target as well starting with a nice stab to the guy's arm, _Stop that I need to focus on what's in front of me and have faith that he can handle himself._

Looking at the two ninja I could see some real bad burns and their hair was definitely scorched. They also wore Cloud headbands, not that it guaranteed that they belonged to that village but I really doubt that they expected to caught this quickly.

I charged forward and engaged the guy on the left as Iroha the one on the right. It was a blur of fists and kicks exchange. This ninja was good, clearly not a beginner and probably three to four years older than me and it showed in the power behind his blows. After a few exchanged blows I could feel one of my ribs fracture. _If this continues we will win but not by much._

Iroha was actually holding her own quite well and her opponent was suffering a lot. _Her clan's attacks are brutal, I need to step this up._

I dropped into a much lower attack stance falling below his defense and mentally went through the hand seals for **Katon: Endan** (Fire: Flame Bullet) as it was even easier than Gōkakyū and point blank blasted the hulking ninja right in the chest then followed it up with an uppercut to his crotch. _Damn, they both landed._ He lept back to be just outside of reach. _DAMN IT, that didn't finish him off. What can I do now? SHIT!_ I tried to dodge as a boulder of stone streaked right at me and it clipped my shoulder but that was all that was needed. I could feel my right shoulder crunch. _Damn it that hurts, I need to finish this now._ Something in the back of my mind was reminding me of a few years back when I did the test for my nature affinities what was it, Water and Fire. _Hmmm if you superheat water it can cause tremendous burns. Wonder if that can help if only I had worked harder on learning water release._

I looked over briefly at how Iroha was doing. It looked like she was doing well, but her opponent went quickly through a series of hand seals. I could tell this was no normal jutsu thanks to my eyes and Iroha could tell as well but what is it? I could feel something click in my mind nanoseconds before the jutsu finished, "DODGE!"

Iroha responded and tried to dodge but the ninja had her dead in sights. **Raiton: Jibashi** (Lightning: Electromagnetic Murder) he said as he finished the seals and a huge spiderweb of lightning shot from his hand out towards Iroha tearing up the ground as it went. She tried to dodge but it clipped one of her legs and I saw it gouge out a chunk of muscle. _Thankfully this jutsu looks to be more about destruction then shock. I can't focus on her opponent right now I got my own._

As I looked back, my opponent grinned as he also just finished a series of hand seals which I missed as I was worried about Iroha. _Fuck I was stupid to look away now I don't know what he is doing._ I thought as earth started to collect around him forming a barrier of stone and earth around him like armor. _I am so screwed now, Taijutsu will be useless and my Katon jutsu will be absorbed. Well might as well try to focus on collecting water while I dodge. I know they 'say' that water can't beat earth jutsu but I know science says otherwise._ Grinning as the Kumo-nin charged at me and the first thing I noticed was he was much slower but good luck knocking him down as it looked like his legs were attached to the ground. He threw a right hook at my side and I deftly cartwheeled over it.

After what felt like forever, I could feel that I had gathered a good amount of water for at least one attempt. _I got one shot at this I don't think I can gather any more water. The air feels real dry. Okay condense, tighten, put a slight spin to it and what the hell might as well add some heat it._ As I poured Fire release into this makeshift Water release jutsu I was doing as he charged at me again. I had gotten some good distance thankfully. As he got maybe a foot in front of me I felt something click in my head, as I threw my left hand out in a semi-slicing motion with four fingers extended aimed directly at his head. A stream of superheated water shot out of my fingers drilling straight through the earth he had around his head and out the back. The ninja stopped dead and fell to his knees then collapsed in front of me dead. As he fell the earth around him crumbled and I could see the slice halfway through his head. I felt relieved but I couldn't let down my guard there were two more ninja and so I tried to move to help out Iroha when I felt my legs collapsed under me. _Shit, I used too much chakra with that technique._ I felt my vision slip, _there goes my Sharingan,_ as I tried looked toward where Iroha was fighting I fell forward and blacked out.

* * *

When I came too, I was draped over Iroha's back as she was hobbling through the forest. I could tell my shirt and skirt were very well ruined but at least I was alive. I looked to my right and Kushina was being supported by Minato who looked as bad as I felt. I had no energy but I wanted to find out what happened so I cleared my throat, "Umm, we won? What happened?"

"Well, after I ambushed the lead ninja with a kunai through the arm that held a rope tied to Kushina. That freed Kushina so he engaged me thinking Kushina was not the threat." Minato said with a little bit of pride.

"That was his biggest mistake, Dattebene!" Kushina said throwing a fist into the air. " I kicked him so hard in the small of his back that I felt a crunch." At that, she shuddered.

"Ouch, so you two teamed up to take him out. How tough was he?" I asked hoping that they didn't get too injured.

"Not too bad, as we had crippled him hard before he could react much but I could tell he was leagues ahead of us." Minato stated with a hint of fear. "Thanks to quick crippling blows, right?"

"Bah, he was a tough fight. He knew a ton of jutsu so even if he couldn't fight at full strength taijutsu wise he was still deadly, I got clipped by a shock jutsu and that hurt a ton but it distracted him enough for Minato to finish him off." Kushina coughed out.

"Well my fight could have gone better, he shot some sort of high end lightning jutsu that tore a chunk of my leg out but thankfully my clan's style had done its work on him enough for us to win especially when you two came back to reinforce." Iroha said then added, "Kami, what the hell was that jutsu you used to slice through that stone armor jutsu your guy used?"

"To be honest not sure, something just clicked in my head. I saw the thick armor around him and knew that neither taijutsu nor katon would work on him so I gathered up as much water as I could then condensed it as much as I could then added a drilling spin to it and then added some heat to it and somehow it blended." I stated lamely then plopped my head back onto Iroha's back, "But I blew all my remaining chakra on that one. Not the smartest of ideas, thankfully it worked or I would have been screwed."

"Well, whatever that was it worked brilliantly." Iroha praised with nod.

About that time we were reaching the edge of the woods and we saw several ninja including Jiraiya running towards the woods but they halted when they saw us.

"What the blazes happened to you four?! You look like you were… nevermind." Jiraiya asked as a ninja wearing a mask picked me up off Iroha's back. "Quick debrief, NOW!"

Iroha and Minato with the help of Kushina explained what happened as I was really too exhausted to add much. When they got to the point of finishing off the three Kumo-nin, a small number of the ninja quickly asked for directions to their location, and then disappeared in a flash of smoke. After that, Jiraiya said, "Okay, let's get you all back to the hospital and get you checked up. Once you are all good enough, we will sit down and write your first team report. Oh, by the way congratulations, you pass. Even though you failed my test, you passed a more important one. Not leaving a fellow Konoha ninja behind."

* * *

The next day Jiraiya showed up in our hospital room as we were getting discharged, thankfully I had packed a backup pair of clothes in my small pack as my clothes from the previous day were completely ruined. He took us to the Hokage Tower and swiftly guided us to a small room grabbing some paperwork on his way in. "Okay brats, plus Uzumaki Kushina, we are going to write up a full report on what happened. Each from your own perspective, NO copying. Then I am going to read over them and then turn them in directly to the Hokage, understand?"

"Yes!" we answered quickly and then started to write up the events. It didn't take long but when I got the part of my killing blow to the ninja I was fighting I paused putting the end of the pen in against my forehead thinking. _Okay what am I going to call this jutsu or explain how I took him down._ "Umm Sensei, I got a question. How thorough does this need to be? If I used a jutsu do I need to say what I used?"

"Normally no, if the fight was not well above you but in this case you need to say if you used anything that isn't a clan secret of course." he said with a command in his voice.

"Thanks." and I went back to writing. _So what am I going to call this new jutsu I haphazardly created?_ Then an idea struck me, I wrote out Futton: Ha Kanketsusen (Boil: Geyser Blade) as the jutsu I used. Adding in a quick explanation of the damage to the ninja it did. Then I handed it to Jiraiya and he looked over it slowly. When he reached the end I saw an eyebrow raise then he looked at me for a second and this time his glare was piercing and calculating.

"Good job, Uchiha Kamiko, very concise."

After a few more minutes everyone had finished their report. Minato handed his in last, after taking a second piece of paper and filling that out completely too. Jiraiya read over them and then ushered us up to the Hokage's office waiting room. _God, every time I am here I feel like I am about to be put in front of a firing squad._

We didn't have to wait long, when we entered the Hokage had his hat on the desk and was filling out some paperwork. After he finished he looked up and said, "Report."

Jiraiya went into explaining the events of the day from both the reports and from things we didn't know. _Wow the Kumo-nin did an excellent job infiltrating us. If it wasn't for Kushina's hair no one would have noticed until they were long gone._ I was a bit surprised when Jiraiya paused looking at Kushina then us and then back to the Hokage.

"Kushina, do you want to fill in your friends as to why this event is so important? I feel that they should know, but I will leave it up to you" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked gently with a slight pause then added. "But before you do, I must express that this is a S-Class secret, and if you three tell anyone without permission, you will be charged with treason. Not that I expect you to."

Kushina looked very nervous at that point but then gathered herself and straightened up after a few seconds. "About a week ago with the passing of the First's wife, Mito Uzumaki, I became the host for the Kyūbi." She then locked eyes with each of us with a hint of fear in her eyes, "I hope this won't affect our friendship."

"Of course not, but now the Anbu and why you got kidnapped makes more sense. Thank you for trusting us." I say then turn to the Hokage, "You have it on the blood of my ancestors that I will not reveal this to anyone without your direct permission."

Both Iroha and Minato nod and say, "You have my word."

Iroha smiled and then added directed towards Kushina, "This would not change my opinion of you. I know the difference between a kunai and a scroll that holds it."

"Well then, you have had an eventful day yesterday, go home and rest. I trust Jiraiya to inform you of your next team meeting. Now you're dismissed, Jiraiya stay I have something to discuss with you." the Hokage said in a commanding voice.

As we departed the Hokage's Tower toward our respective homes I waved goodbye to them, "See you all tomorrow? If we don't have a meeting my place?"

"Sounds good but umm, where is your place?" Minato asked making me stop in my tracks.

"Doh," I said smacking my forehead, "I will meet you at the entrance to the Uchiha district around nine."

"That is if we don't have a meeting tomorrow," Iroha added, "Though I doubt it."

"Of course, and Kushina you going to be there right?" I said looking hopeful at her.

"Of course I will be, dattebane!" she responded as she waved goodbye.

* * *

 _Wow, I am still tired even after speeding it out at the hospital, then again the doctors said I would be a little drained for a day or so because I nearly put myself into chakra exhaustion. I got to be more careful next time, I won't always be that lucky._

It was mid-afternoon when I was walking through my clan's area. I made it a point to stop by Grandma Matsu's fruit shop. "Good afternoon, Grandma. We passed." I said smiling brightly.

She responded, "I knew you would little one. You grow up so fast, I remember when your father had his test by his Jounin sensei. He came back with no shirt on and you don't look too bad. Getting back a bit late, though. What did your sensei have you doing?"

"Well, it started as a search to find him somewhere in Konoha and 'capture' him, but we prevented a kidnapping of my friend by some Kumo-nin and he passed us because we prevented that. I did get a fracture in my right shoulder and some chakra exhaustion but besides that ,I got lucky." I answered. "Do you know if Dad is at the office or out on patrol?"

"I think he is out on patrol today. I saw him earlier walking around. I am glad you made it home safely for your first day as a true genin." she said waving me goodbye.

I wandered for a little trying to spot Dad, and after a little while I saw him near the end of the street. I was about to use a jutsu to close the distance quicker, but then remember I was told no jutsu for at least a day. So I ran over waving to get his attention. "Daddy, I passed!"

"Congratulations, but why didn't you come home last night?" Dad asked with a slight hint of worry as he visually inspected me seeing a wrapped up shoulder and probably baggy eyes.

"Umm, well, I can't tell you here." I whispered with a bit of hesitance looking from him to the two Uchiha police that was flanking behind him.

"Okay, my little Firecracker, I will see you at home soon." he said smiling then leaned down and gave me a big hug.

As I walked back home I had a lot on my mind I really didn't notice where I was walking. _Okay, so tell him you had your test to be a fully fledged Genin team and it was interrupted by a kidnapping and that you along with your teammates rescued Kushina from a few Kumo-nin… yeah that work._ At that point I ran into someone just a shy taller than me. "Oof."  
I look up and I see Fugaku turn to face me as he said. "Hey, look where you're… Oh it is you. How are you?"

"I am good a bit tired and shoulder hurts a bit but I am good…" I then grin. "Just-Fugaku, how have you been?"

He groaned then looked at my shoulder seeing it all bandaged. A hint of concern flashed in his passive face before it disappeared. He then answered, "I am Fugaku, not Just-Fugaku. I have been well and I wish you a speedy recovery. So I take it your Genin test went well. I must go, my father sent for me. I wish I could stay and talk but it will not do to keep him waiting. Bye."

As he walked off I had to fight one of the hardest blushes I have ever had. _Damn it why am I blushing. There. Is. Nothing. Going. On. Between. Us. Well I gotta get home too._ I thought as I rushed back home and quickly kicked off my shoes. "Mom, Obito I am home!"

I heard a patter of small feet and then my baby brother tackled my legs with a huge hug. "Weeecome homs sis." He sputtered out with his face planted in my leg. _Wow he is learning to talk as fast as I did and I was somewhat cheating._ He then looked up at me. "Why dids you nots come lasts night? I misseded yous."

About that point mom came into view and paused at the cuteness happening and giggled. "Welcome home, how was your Genin test?"

"It went bad, and then good, or maybe good and then bad. Well, once Dad is home I will tell the whole story, but suffice to say we passed. I need to take a bath." I said as I ruffled Obito's hair and he humph back at me. I then made my way to the bathroom with a quick stop by my room to throw my pack onto my bed.

 _These series event has been more exhausting than I have ever had. I know normally you can't combine elemental natures so what did I do? Two jutsu at the same time or did I truly combine them? Well I will think about that later. It's time for a nice long hot soak._ I thought as I slipped into the bath and let all my worries and thoughts disappear. "I hope Dad takes a little while to get home."

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. This was my first time writing a true fight scene, hope it was good. I also wish to continue to give thanks to** **Halbyrd** **on co-writing without them this story wouldn't read as well. I will put this in here, due to school and my co-writer getting a new job this was massively delayed. I hope to be more consistent in my future chapters. Thanks again.**


	9. Chapter 9 - D-Ranks?

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction.**

Author Notes: This is a semi-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of possible language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it.

Sorry for the delays but I was having a brain fart and could not seem to write this chapter how I wanted, even though I had this chapter planned out for a long time. Also my editors have been real busy so even when it was ready for editing it took a while as I did the editing solo.

"Speech"

-Sign Language-

" **Technique Casting"**

"YELLING"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 9 - D-Ranks?**

I awoke the next day, and as I automatically stretched as I was getting out of bed, I felt it before I heard it. POP. I cringed and grabbed at my shoulder, screaming "OWWW!" I massaged it, cringing at the sharp, rolling pain under my fingers. I pressed my fingers against the tight muscles, thinking back to last night's conversation with Mom and Dad.

 _I am glad they were so understanding that I couldn't possibly leave Kushina being in trouble. They were, understandably, a little mad that I recklessly charged into a fight that not only could have killed me, but that could have very well killed us all. Wow, those nin were strong. I've got a long way to go before I am in that league, properly anyway. I really should have told Dad about that technique I used. What was holding me back, fear?_ At that thought, I rolled my shoulder with no more sharp pains, and heaved myself out of bed.

I made my way over to the dresser and let my mood decide my outfit for the day. I pulled out some clothes that I rarely wore due to my constant nin-training. It was a colorful sundress my mother had helped me choose several months ago. _Damn, I look cute,_ I thought as I watched myself twirl about in the mirror. I was so glad that Sensei had listened to the doctor when he said that the entire team should rest, especially me. The doctor had said something about causing my system too much stress too early in my nin-training. I hadn't listened as well as I should have. I smiled at my reflection, then flounced out of my room.

I wandered out to the kitchen, and saw Mom cooking up some food for Obito and myself. "Did I miss Dad? Did he leave already?" I asked as I sat down.

"Yes, dear. He left early, he'd gotten a summons to the Hokage's office. Do you want miso soup, or just rice this morning?" Mom responded as she cut up some carrots for Obito.

"Miso would be great," I answered as I played a bit with Obito at the table. _Dammit, guess I'll pick his brain later_. "So little Obi, how tall have you been able to stack the blocks now?"

"This talls," he responded enthusiastically as he put his tiny hand about a foot off the table.

"That is really good, soon you will be able to stack them all without them falling over," I said smiling at him as Mom placed a plate in front of him and a bowl for me. _God, for being little over a year old, he's progressing faster than was even possible in my old life._

"Eat up, you two, and no playing at the table," Mom ordered with a fond smile, then added, looking at me, "Any plans for today?"

Finishing swallowing, I responded, "Yeah, I am meeting my teammates and Kushina around nine, and we're probably going to either hang out here, or go to one of the training fields."

"Well, dear, please be careful. You did just get out of the hospital for chakra exhaustion and 'other injuries'. Didn't you say that Jiraiya-sama gave you three the day off?"

"No, he gave us a week off, because the doctor told him I was to do no ninja work for a week, and only very light chakra use. So, he thought it would be better if we had the time off," then I added under my breath, "slacker," then continued, "anyway, we are mostly going to be chatting about what happened."

We continued to eat breakfast chatting idly and trying to stop Obito from making a complete mess of his breakfast, he was getting better at that. _Wow, he has grown fast! Next thing I know, he will be old enough to join the academy._ We finished up, I helped Mom with the dishes, then ran to Dad's office to grab the huge text on chakra theory that he'd shown me. I tucked it under an arm and hurried to the front of the house.

"Well, I am off to go meet them, be back later!" I shouted to the back rooms as I exited my home. It was a warm day, but not too bad, great for relaxing or light workouts.

* * *

As I slowly walked through the village, looking at everything, I felt my sins crawling up my back. _I could have DIED._ I slowly went into a slow breathing exercise that I had learned a long time ago. _It's okay, it all turned out okay in the end ~ BUUUUT it could have turned way nastier. Also, you idiot,_ _you_ _passed out due to_ _chakra exhaustion_ _. They could have just walked up to you, and_ _ **murdered**_ _you, and you would have been able to do_ _ **nothing**_ _about it. I really do need to polish up at that chakra sensing thing so I don't get screwed like that again. What happened to me? I used to be able to sense chakra everywhere, now I barely recognize that it's there. Have I gotten complacent? I can't even sense how much is running through me._ As I rounded a corner to enter an alleyway shortcut, I got a sudden image of the older teen as my Jutsu hit him. _I sliced the top of his head off_. _Ugh!_ I tried to keep myself from yakking up my breakfast there in the alley. _That look in his eyes… but why don't I feel sorry for killing him? Aren't you supposed to...empathize? What's WRONG with me?! Wait, breathe, breathe. I am_ _not_ _a monster. He...deserved it._ _ **OKAY,**_ _stop dwelling on this, bad thoughts, bad thoughts._

Several minutes later, I showed up at the training field. I saw my two other teammates, Kushina, and Jetti all sitting around under one of the trees by the edge of the clearing. As I approached, their conversation floated to me on the breeze.

"So, that fight was tough, but thankfully we got out mostly unscathed." Minato stated with his back to me, then added, "I was surprised that Kamiko could do a jutsu like that. It not only pierced through a Earth jutsu, but also sliced into that nin's head." _Was that admiration in his voice?_

"Hi, Kami," Kushina interjected, perhaps a little too loudly, upon seeing me coming up behind him. "Glad you made it!"

"Yeah, sorry for running late. Mom made a big breakfast for me and Obi," I said back to her, ignoring the elephant in the room as it were. _I just hope that they don't see me as a monster, hell we all killed that night. I just did so in the most brutal way possible… Hell, with these guys, they're probably more interested in the Jutsu anyway..._ "I wish I could join you all for some light training, but the doctors said 'no taijutsu or chakra use for at least a week.'" I huffed, crossing my arms moodily. "Party poopers."

"You will heal and be back to your usual unstoppable self soon," Iroha smirked. "By the way, that jutsu you used, why haven't you shown it to us before?"

"She was probably holding it back to make a dramatic reveal," Jetti interjected, grinning at me expectantly.

Now it was my turn to be the awkward one, _Yip they were more interested in the Jutsu_ , "Ummm, well, I sorta came up with it in the heat of the moment..." I stated lamely, then tried to switch the topic, "Soooooo Kushina, Jetti, what are _your_ teams like?"

"I am not on a ' _team'_. I am being mentored by a Jonin." Kushina grumbled out with a bit of bitterness in her voice.

"At least you will get more personalized training, with a lot of one on one time," Iroha pointed out, and at that, Kushina seemed to brighten up a bit.

"Orochimaru-sensei is a bit weird, but he is very knowledgeable. He had us do this crazy endurance test or he would fail us," Jetti said proudly, yet still shuddering at the memory, "I, of course, passed."

The conversation wore on for several more minutes, with laughs and gentle teasing. It was weird how _normal_ it was turning out.

"So, we going to kick each other's butt or just sit around like a frog on a log? Dattebane!" Kushina chimed bouncing up from her sitting position.

"Of course, I believe it's time for me to solidly show you why the Hyūga clan is to be feared." Iroha responded with a teasing smirk, "Now that we are true ninja, I won't hold back."

"Nuh-uh," Jetti bantered back grinning, "Uchiha are better."

"We really shouldn't aim to maim, but I agree if we are to get stronger. So that none of us will be…" Minato pauses looking cautiously towards Kushina.

"Yeah, I agree. I was careless that night. I am not going to drop my guard like that again, DATTEBANE!"

They all went to the middle of the field to spar as I opened " _Advanced Chakra Theory"_. _If I am going to get better, I need to understand my own chakra pathways better than I do now. Chakra theory has always been one of my weakest, and reading isn't 'training' as long as I don't use too much chakra, right?_

* * *

That long week was the most boring I'd had in a long time. _I have always listened to doctors. I mean, they know their stuff so I should, right? I'm sure I'll always listen to them, but DAMN, it is boring not being able to use chakra._ I thought, smiling to myself while watching Obi as he tried to stack my old blocks with his tongue stuck out in concentration. _He is getting rather good at those, even at his super young age._ Then a thought popped up in my head, "Hey, Obi, wanna learn something cool?"

As the blocks fell down he turned to stare at me with both betrayal at making him lose focus on the stacking and eagerness to learn something 'cool', "Sis ganna teach cool stuff?"

I tried not to giggle at the amazing cuteness coming from my younger brother, "Yeah, but don't feel bad if you don't get it for a long while. It is real hard to learn." I smile warmly, "Now, there is something called chakra that flows through our bodies…."

* * *

Monday couldn't come quickly enough, but thankfully it came. I stayed in bed after I woke up, letting my thoughts slowly come together. _Yesterday I got cleared for full duty, thank god. Sensei, why did you leave a message with my mom about the meeting instead of me?_ Hesitantly, I stretched my arms again and was happy to feel no pain. I bounced out of bed and quickly got dressed. _I've got two hours before I need to be there, that's plenty of time._ Strapping my kunai pouch to my left thigh, and a larger equipment pouch to my belt, I slung it around to the back. I looked in the mirror and saw a box poking out of the closet that contained all my old childhood toys including many chewed-on toy kunai, and a rather nice wooden child sword.

"I should give those to Obito when he is old enough," I mumbled out as I closed my bedroom door.

I quickly scarfed down breakfast, not really paying attention to what I was eating. I hugged Mom and Obi goodbye as I nearly sprinted out of our house. As I roof-jumped through the village towards the training field, I silently was impressed at how much I actually learned in that week of ' _downtime_ '. Reading up on advanced chakra theory and quizzing Dad on chakra sensing was both entertaining and enlightening.

 _I am glad I talked to Dad about what I did in the forest with that 'jutsu'. Even though he had no clue what I did. He's always there for me when I need it. Also, I think I got this personal sensing thing down with those tips he gave me. I still can't believe I've got THIS much chakra. It must have something to do with the fact that my mind is not that of a child. I'm going to have to see how actual jutsu drains it to confirm. I am a bit sad that I wasn't allowed to learn how to sense other's chakra due to the medic's orders, but at least I got the theory down on that._ About that time, I reached the edge of the village proper, and had to stop using 'The Ninja Highway'. I hopped down to walk the rest of the way. Thankfully, it was not far to the field.

Of course, today I arrived first. Instead of being annoyed, that gave me time to test out my 'new' sensing skills. I walked over to a large boulder that was in the field. Lightly jumped up on it and sat down in a sorta meditative pose, _I bet I look stupid up here but this always relaxed me when I was on those long hikes back in Scouts._ I concentrated on my breathing and just let my chakra expand out from me, but unlike a Jutsu I didn't let it form into anything. Instead, I let it wash over everything around me, just like I had read in the books. It was an odd feeling, I could feel the chakra outside me like it was an extension of myself ,but it wasn't physical and I couldn't directly interact with anything. _Such a weird feeling._ I shuddered and pulled my chakra back quickly as I felt someone come close. _The person was hiding in the trees and even though I don't know how my teammates feel using this sense, this was clearly not them. This person's chakra_ _is immense, but I can't tie it to anyone on my team_. _Iroha... I think would feel was calm but full of energy like a warm summer breeze, Minato would also calm but in a more analytical way like a cool fall breeze, and, well, Jiraiya would be like immovable earth. This was more like mud and was also slimy._ I expanded my chakra out again to see if the person was still there and I couldn't feel them, _they must have sensed me and went to observe who it was. I am glad they left, they felt off and it made me feel icky._

After several more of these exercises of expanding my chakra and pulling it back in I felt my other teammates show up at the edge of my sensing, which greatly surprised me that I could sense almost the whole field. I stood up and looked towards them smiling, jokingly laughing out, "About time you two showed up. I was beginning to think I was going to be the only one here."

"That is absurd," Minato stated plainly clearly not getting that I was joking, "Why would we not come? This is when we were supposed to meet for our team meeting." Iroha nodded sagely at this but I could tell she was holding back a laugh at the seriousness Minato tried to exude.

I fell forward and tumbled off the boulder when I heard someone boom out behind me, "OKAY, BRATS, GATHER ROUND!"

 _How the hell did he get behind me? I didn't even sense him before he spoke. I guess Joinin are on a whole different level._ Gathering myself, I stood up brushing off some grass as the others came over.

"Today, we are doing missions. So, come with me to the Tower," he said with a small sly smirk that I almost missed as he turned to walk away.

After a few minutes of walking, and some idle chat about what type of mission we would get, we arrived at the Tower. We quickly made our way to the missions' desk. Jiraiya walked up to the desk, bypassing several others that were waiting as if he owned the place, "Team 4 here to pick up our mission for the day."

At that, one of the Chunin looked at a list she had in front of her, then handed him a scroll. He walked back to us, unfurling it to read as he walked, "Hmm, this will be interesting. Sensei hasn't lost his humor," he chuckled to himself just loud enough for us to hear, "well then, follow me."

We fell in behind him as he wandered out of the Tower, and made our way towards the academy. _I wonder what we are doing here? Isn't the Academy is on summer break?_ "There are many different levels to the missions that ninja receive. A-ranks are usually assigned to Jonin or higher, B-ranks are assigned to experienced Chunin, and C-ranks are assigned to Genin or Chunin," he then paused for a few seconds for dramatic effect then boomed out, "BUT today, you are given the glorious level that is D-ranks. Today, you will have the honor of cleaning not one, not two, but THREE of the spare classrooms from top to bottom." He boomed out to us, chuckling heavily. He was enjoying this. _God, we did this as punishment while we were in the academy, this is what D-rank missions are? I am going to hate this level of mission. C-ranks can't come soon enough._

We entered the Academy, and were greeted by a Chunin teacher that I had not met before. She was quite friendly and guided us to the first of the classrooms. Looking in, I was floored. "It looks like a storm blew through here." I muttered under my breath. The room had chairs upturned, desks in disrepair or broken, and the chalkboard was nearly destroyed with writing all over it, some of which was _not_ in chalk. And that was just on my first visual sweep of the room, we were bound to find more problems as we cleaned and/or repaired/replaced things.

"Well, here are some buckets and sponges. If you need to replace any of the damaged items, let Jiraiya-sama or myself know and we will get you the items." The Chunin-sensei said right before she bowed to us then leaving swiftly.

Turning to the problem in front of us, I breathed out a long sigh. We started to divvy up the chores. Minato chose to be on cleaning the desks and chairs duty, pulling the broken ones to the side. Iroha grabbed the mop and a bucket and swiftly got to work on walls and floors. I stared at the chalkboard, my monster to tackle.

As we started at each of our tasks, Jiraiya-sensei found a chair and uprighted it. He plopped down and pulled out a notebook then started writing in it with the occasional pause to observe us. Surprisingly, we made quick work of the disaster of a room. It only took us about two hours. _This is just the first room, I hope the rest are not as bad._

Thankfully, I was granted my wish. The other two classrooms that we had been assigned to clean were not nearly as bad, and we got both of those done in about the same time as the first room took. Despite it only being three classrooms, my fingers were numb and an exhaustion had settled into my bones. I felt, oddly, very satisfied finishing our first mission, even if it was similar to a punishment we had received before. _Also this time we get paid for it._ I grinned to myself.

"Well, for being Brats you are efficient. I had expected this to take longer, but you seem to work quite well with each other," Jiraiya boomed as we left the Academy to turn in this D-rank mission report after getting a stamp of approval from the Chunin. "Now, with D-ranks, I will sometimes do the mission reports while you are working on the mission. Other times, you will be filling them out so that you can learn to be efficient and concise. But today you don't have to worry about all that annoying paperwork. Got it?"

"Hai, Sensei." We responded totally exhausted from all the work. At this he chuckled lightly.

After turning in the report he dismissed us saying, "Meet me at the training field tomorrow at 9 and we will be doing some team drills. If we have time, we might take on an easy D-rank." At this we all groaned.

Minato quickly left but Iroha lagged behind waiting for me, but I waved her off as I wanted to talk with Sensei privately. "Sensei, I got a question."

"Yes?" He responded half turning towards me.

"I have...thought a lot about that nin I killed…" I said pausing to organize my thoughts.

His eyebrows drew together as he gazed at me seriously. "There is nothing wrong about feeling bad about killing enemy ninja in battle. I know this is your first kill, and I would like to say it gets easier, but it is something you will have to work through." He softly spoke to me, trying to be comforting.

"That's the thing, Sensei… I _don't_ feel bad about it. Just the opposite... I feel like he deserved it and probably worse ways… does that make me a bad person?" I asked as I looked up and saw his shocked face. _He clearly didn't expect this._

Jiraiya was quiet for a good while, but when he spoke next it was calm and firm, "No, that doesn't make you a bad person. But DO NOT dwell for too long, or it can turn inward and destroy you. As ninja we kill, that is the nature of our line of work. I am just surprised that you brought up your kill so quickly. Most Genin don't like to bring it up, and it's sort of an unwritten test of character on how each of them deal with it. I will say you seem to have taken it well."

"Thank you, sensei, this makes me feel a lot better. On a different, but related note, that Jutsu I did…"

At this he held up his hand, effectively silencing me, "We can talk about that tomorrow, for now go home and rest up. That is an order." he stated with a wink.

As I walked home, I felt a lot lighter and more happier that I had the whole week. I almost bounced as I walked. _Guess I just needed someone to confide in that wasn't there. I hope that we can work out what I did, but at least I got that off my chest._

 **Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I also wish to continue to give thanks to** **frodoschick** **and** **Halbyrd** **on co-writing without them this story wouldn't be as well written as it is. I am enjoying all of your support and if you have questions either msg me or post a review, I read them all.**

 **AN: one of my friends found some edits that needed to be done to Chapter 8 so I will be updating it with the changes soon, I hope you enjoy. It didn't change anything important just made it smoother. Aslo sorry that this chapter was so short I promise the next one will be bigger.**


	10. Chapter 10 - Elements

**DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to be the creator of the Naruto manga or anime series. I had absolutely no part in any creation of the series, and I'm just a dedicated fan of this series who has taken my time to create this fanfiction. I do own my OCs and of course myself.**

Author Notes: This is a genderflipped-self-insert fiction of what I think would happen if Minato had two teammates who would not only challenge him to do better but could keep up. I hope you enjoy it. This is rated M, because of language, and violence. At no time will there be a pairing between any of the three teammates. Not that there won't be pairings outside their team, just not inside it. Thank you everyone who has or will review my fic. Positive, thoughtful reviews encourage me to continue the story and work on the next update while obscene or insulting reviews have the opposite reaction. Also, if you don't like it, constructive criticism is welcome, just don't be rude.

"Speech"

-Sign Language-

" **Technique Casting"**

"YELLING"

" _Inner thoughts and speech"_

" _INNER YELLING"_

I will add more if/when they become needed

 **Chapter 10 - Elements**

I arrived early the next day, hoping to be able to talk with Sensei before training in private. He was already waiting there in the field with my other team members. _Of course, he arrived right on time, like always. Well, that puts a damper on that_. As soon as I walked onto the field, he had us spar with each other for a solid two hours, rotating us one at a time to spar with him. I could tell he was massively holding back, but even with the Sharingan I still couldn't even land a glancing blow. He was very fast, even faster than my eyes could follow. My pride was secretly grateful that no one else on my team was able to either, and by the end of the two hours, we were all thoroughly exhausted.

"Alright, gather 'round. You all are very skilled for fresh Genin, but you have a lot to improve on." Jiraiya stated plainly, looking at each of us in turn. "Minato, you need to be more aggressive when attacking. You are too defensive, waiting for your opponent to make the first move will hurt you in the long run. Iroha, I feel you have a good balance of both offensive and defensive, but then again, your clan style leans that way. You need to get faster. Getting faster will help to smooth out your style. Work on that. Kamiko, where do I start." I flinched under his glare. "You are a mess. I feel that you are fighting your instincts on your clan style. You're clearly acting more defensively when your clan style calls for more offensive maneuvers. Maybe we should work with some other styles to see if one would fit your personal style with ease." I hung my head in shame, eyes burning with resentment. He clapped his hands, making us all jump. "Now, let's go get something to eat. After that, we can take on a D-rank or two."

We slowly walked into the market part of town, slowly stretching out our tired muscles. The market was already starting to become crowded with the midday crowd. Vendors barked from their stalls and savory smells lingered in the air. I pointed to one of my favorite little places. "How about that place? It has great barbeque, and makes some really good dangos."

"Sounds good to me," Minato replied.

Iroha gave a shrug of not really caring while also giving me an eyeroll that spoke clear as day to me that I probably only chose that place because of the dangos.

"Okay then barbeque it is." Jiraiya said as we turned towards the eatery. We walked in and were quickly seated. Menus exchanged hands. "Now, you all are paying for yourselves. I might be your Jounin-sensei, but you are now all adults in the eyes of the village." Jiraiya said as he browsed the menu. We all shared a secret eyeroll.

The meal was hot and hearty. After some casual idle chat, I ordered some anko dangos to go before we all paid our shares. I didn't even wait to leave the eatery before diving into them. Iroha giggled and managed to convince me to give her one. Jiraiya clapped his hands once we were once more walking the streets. "So, brats, time to do some missions."

"Missions?" I mumbled out through a mouthful of dango. Iroha gave me a look that said all too clearly, _Don't talk with your mouth full._ I stuck a dango-coated tongue out at her.

"I feel more training would be good for us all, but you're the sensei." Minato said with a shrug. I noticed him eyeing one of my dango sticks. With a smirk, I handed him one.

"A mission or two would be a good break," Iroha added in.

"Okay you Brats, let's head to the mission desk," Jiraiya ordered as he directed us towards the Hokage Tower.

By the time we got to the desk, there were only a few D-ranks left for the day. We had a choice between babysitting a noble's kid while he was in town for the day, or walking some of the Inuzuka's dogs. After a team discussion, we took both.

An hour later, the very enthusiastic dogs had been walked, and my legs were killing me. A quick glance at my teammates told me that they were just as badly off. Iroha was even slightly panting.

"You still have a mission left to complete! The day is not over, Brats! Get your butts up, and let's head over to the embassy house that the noble is staying in!" Jiraiya shouted out at us while we were slumped on the steps of the Hokage tower, attempting to rest.

With one long collective groan, we pushed ourselves up, and stumbled after him. When we got there, I looked up at the embassy house. It was at least half again as large as my home. _Wow. It's huge. Okay, how bad can this be? Watching a kid that isn't from ninja parents can't be as bad as watching Obi._

Walking up to the door, Jiraiya knocked, and then took a half step back. A few seconds later, the door was opened by a meek looking young woman who couldn't have been much older than eighteen. "Umm, can I help you ninja? The master isn't home right now, he is busy negotiating with the Hokage."

"Haha, we are here on mission to watch your master's kid while he is busy this afternoon," Jiraiya barked barely containing a laugh. Then, I saw him take a gauging glance up and down this woman. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes and groan. _God, REALLY, NOW?!_ "Here is our mission scroll with your master's signature of approval," he said as he handed her the scroll.

She read it. Then re-read it. Then, she even read it a third time! I guess she didn't see anything wrong with it as she showed us in. "This way please," she said quietly, "I will give you the quick tour, then show you to where Mistress Tomoe is. I have… things to do. My name is Mia."

True to her word, the tour was quick, and she showed us to the room where Tomoe was. "Miss Tomoe, these ninja here are here to watch you while your father is away. If you need something, please ask them," she said to the little girl who was sitting in the middle of a pile of blocks with a very upset face. Mia turned to us, giving Jiraiya-sensei the scroll of chores relating to the care of Tomoe. "If you need me I will be about the house." She quickly disappeared after that, leaving us with Tomoe.

As I stood there, Tomoe looked up at us. _She is so adorable but this isn't going to be easy. She looks spoiled, like REALLY spoiled._ As we look inventory of the room for "hazards" and "weak points" as Sensei commanded us to as if this was a threatened client and not a kid in the middle of the safest part of a ninja village.

We drew kunai to see who would "play" with Tomoe first. I lost the draw. I gave them a glare before turning to sit down on the floor next to Tomoe's blocks. She glared at me. I smiled back. _Hmm, there is a slight chakra sense radiating off her and if I had to guess, it feels slightly hot, almost like fire. Kinda like Obi's._

"What're you building?" I asked as my hand reached out for a block.

"THAT'S MINE!" Tomoe screeched at me, trying to grab it out of my hand. I was a ninja so she totally failed as my hand moved quicker than her eyes probably could track.

"Now, Tomoe, grabbing something out of other people's hands is not nice." I explained patiently, just as I had done with Obi once. "Even if it does belong to you, you should ask for it back." I said sternly but I kept my voice even and smiled down at her. "I am Kamiko, it is nice to meet you. I am here to keep you company while my teammates over there are doing chores around the house."

Tomoe scrunched up her face, cheeks turning red. _waiiit is she about…_

"GIVE THAT BACK!" she screamed as she started to cry noisily.

 _Those are actual tears._ My mouth hung open, staring at this kid throwing a tantrum in the middle of her blocks. I didn't get it! Being firm always worked with Obi! Iroha came running back into the room to see what happened.

"What happened?" Iroha asked me with an incredulous look on her face.

Looking up at her, "I only said to not grab things out of other people's hands and to ask nicely. Like I do with Obi."

Iroha let out a long sigh. "She isn't like Obi. I'll handle this, go help Minato and Sensei." she replied, making the 'shoo'ing motion at me.

I got up with a sigh of defeat, and left to help clean up Tomoe's bedroom. Not even five minutes later, I heard a cry that sounded like "THAT NOT HOW PLAY THAT. THAT THERE AND THIS THERE. NO NO NO GO AWAY YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY!" About that time, Iroha come back in and gave me this look that spoke volumes.

"Well, looks like it's your turn to give it a try, Brat" Jiraiya-sensei chuckled out clapping Minato on the back. I gave him the best smile of encouragement I could as I went back to cleaning the stains on the child's floor. _How does one that small make such a mess? I never made this much of a mess. Neither does Obi._

Minato did this slow walk, as if he were walking to his death, but for the rest of the afternoon, the only thing we heard was laughter coming from the playroom. _That is not fair, I have always been good with kids of all ages._ I couldn't help my jealous feelings.

As we left, Iroha and myself both glared at Minato. "What did you do? Bribe her with candy or something?" I hissed at him as we entered the Hokage tower.

"Uh, no. I just sat there and listened to what she wanted. And played the part. It wasn't that difficult." he responded with a shrug. Iroha and I both shook our heads in commiseration.

I quickly caught up to Jiraiya-sensei, and caught his attention. "Umm, sensei?" He nodded towards me, acknowledging me. "I have been working on my ability to feel chakra around us, and I felt some coming from Tomoe. Is that normal for chakra in civilians to not increase as they grow up? She felt like she had an adult civilian amount."

Jiraiya paused mid-step then turned to face me, letting out a long sigh, "Yeah, I felt that too. No, just like ninja children, civilian chakra amounts increase as they grow. The fact that you could even sense chakra in a civilian child means she has more than normal. Probably not enough to make it as a ninja, but enough that she might be able to perform minor ninja tricks." He said with the last part mostly to himself then boisterously announced, "Well done today; mission reports will be done by each of you, so let's get to writing."

Each of us groaned, but followed obediently. The reports didn't take too long, but I made a small note at the bottom that I felt that Tomoe should be looked at for some basic chakra control exercises to see if she could learn techniques.

Walking out after handing in our reports, Jiraiya got our attention with a short cough, "Okay, good job. You all are dismissed. Take tomorrow off but be at the training field bright and early at sunrise the day after. I got some serious training plans for you all, so enjoy that day off."

* * *

I awoke stretching, then blinked wearily, letting out a long yawn. I looked around at my room wondering when I got so comfortable being in this world without "modern" technology like the internet or computers. _If it wasn't for all that time I spent camping and hiking with scout and my family, I think I'd be worse off._ A sudden wave of nostalgia and pain rippled through me. _I...miss them but there's nothing I can do about that. Dwelling on it won't help at all._ I swung my legs out of bed, rubbing at my eyes. _I wonder why Sensei gave us the day off we really didn't do anything that stressful these last few days of stupid D-ranks and even the training while tough by the next day I was fine._ "Well, Kami, let's not waste the day in bed." I spoke out loud to myself as I jumped to my feet and got ready for the day.

Several minutes later I was dressed in my standard ninja outfit. Looking up at the mirror, I noticed my hair was starting to get long. _It is almost past my shoulders, should I go get it trimmed or should I just put it up?_ I played with it for a few moments before shrugging. _Meh, I am not doing anything dangerous, I will put it up for now._ I then grabbed a hair tie and ponytailed it. As I walked to the kitchen, I saw mom sitting at the table and... _wait, DAD?!_ "Dad?! What are you doing home?" looking between mom and dad. They both looked like they had been speaking before I came down. Since they weren't still talking, I guessed it had been about me. They both gave me strained smiles.

"Umm, I will go wait in the living room until you're done talking." I said quickly, and turned to make my way there. Before sitting down, I went over to the shelf and pulled out a book on basic taijutsu forms. _This is such a simple book, but the more I think about it, Sensei is right. The clan style isn't right for me. But I don't want to embarrass Mom and Dad, especially Dad. He helped me with Our style so much. I wonder… what Mom and Dad were talking about._ A gloom settled over me as I listlessly opened the book and started to read the first pages. A few minutes later, my thoughts and reading were interrupted by Dad coming in. He plopped down next to me on the couch and ruffled my hair.

"So kiddo, hungry? I think mom has some stuff prepared, but before you go eat, I need to talk to you about something really important."

"Umm, o-kay?" I answered hesitantly. _Where is this going? Hopefully not another sibling._

He took a deep breath, "Okay, so you did something, when you rescued Kushina, that no one has heard of before. Water jutsu of what you are capable of doing should not beat an Earth jutsu of that strength." He paused for a second taking a few deep breaths then continued, "Can you try to show me what you did?" then quickly added turning his slight frown into a smile, scruffing my hair again, "After breakfast, of course, Kiddo."

After a disturbingly quiet breakfast _, even Obi is being quiet this morning,_ Dad and I packed up a small pack of scrolls and some 'mission' gear. As we walked slowly through the Uchiha district I noticed we were not going to any of the Uchiha fields, at least none that I knew about.

"Umm," I timidly broke the silence between us, "where are we heading?"

"An older field that is usually reserved for Chunin or higher so that they can practice more destructive Jutsu safely." Dad responded plainly then let out a long sigh, "You know that you have gained the ire of the Clan Elders." I nodded. He tried to give me a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "First by the rough housing when you were younger, when you unlocked our bloodline. Being not only the youngest girl to unlock it but because many of the higher up's kids were in that dust up." I notice how he subtly emphasized the 'girl' part but I put that aside and continued to listen. "Second, by asking to be admitted early, mostly because of the first did this raise any ire. Third, now because you used a Jutsu that no one has been able to identify. The Clan Elders are going to be sitting in on our training today, please listen to them carefully, this is really important, and can affect your future." He let out another sigh placing a hand on my shoulder, "No matter what happens, know your mother and I are very proud of you."

I looked up at him, and saw a tears at the edges of his eyes, "I know you love me dearly, and I will try to continue to make you proud of me. I will try to listen to the Clan Elders," then added under my breath just loud enough for him only to hear me, "crazy old bats." He stifled a snicker at that.

The district was in full swing, and fairly busy this morning as we just enjoyed the rest of our walk. A few minutes later, we reached a wall with a seal on the iron gate. In front of the gate stood the three elders, and my eyes bulged when I saw that the clan Head and his son was there too. _Fugaku._ I tried to ignore the way my heart decided to beat quicker. _Damn it, I am going to be totally distracted by him. Not to mention his father's hard glare. This will be tough enough trying to recreate what I did without THAT distraction. Universe, why do you like to torment me?_

Under my breath, again just loud enough for Dad to hear, "Okay, let's do this." I walked up to the Elders and did a small bow, "Honored Elders, I am honored that you have taken time out of your busy day to come here." _Please, please let them find nothing to fault that._

A moment later which felt like an eternity, Sakuma Uchiha stepped forward and spoke in this gravelly voice, "Show us what you said you did that night to that Iro-nin." He bit his thumb then placed that hand on the seal and the gate sprang open.

As we walked through the gated wall I was surprised to see a lot of small seals both on the outside of the wall as well as on the inner part of it as well. _Wonder if those are to keep stuff out or in? Dad did say this was for more destructive training._

"Okay, Kiddo, just walk us through what you did," Dad calmly said as he put a loving hand on my shoulder; then in a quiet voice added, "just stay calm, I believe in you."

I took several deep breaths then stupidly hazard a look at my judges. _Darn they all have their Sharingans active, FUCK ME!_ I then looked up at Dad, and he smiled down at me before moving over to the group. _Okay, BREATHE, just breathe… In then out, center yourself._ Activating my own Sharingan I started to go through the motions of pulling the water out of the air and my surroundings. _I can feel that there is a lot more water to pull this time verse last time I did this. Okay I think I got about the same amount, maybe a little more. Now what was the next step I did? Oh right, add a spin to it… WAIT no it was condense…_ "Crap!" I said as the jutsu failed in my hands soaking the front of my clothes.

"AGAIN!" Sakuma barked. I jumped at how loud he was.

 _Okay, time to do this again._ This went on for the next hour or so… some part of the jutsu just wouldn't click right. I finally got the order right, but for some reason I couldn't duplicate it. _Why isn't my fire element adding to the water? Waaaait, fire can't be just added to water. It has to be influencing it, just like you can't just try to put a match in a cup of water._ "Okay, I will try this again." I said calmly.

"No, we have seen enough. Clearly you did not do what you said and it must have been someone else that defeated that Nin. We are done here." one of the elders said as they started to walk away.

"No seriously, I know what I am doing wrong. I got it this time. Seriously, watch me." I pleaded as I started to collect the water again and going through the motions of condensing, adding a drilling like twist to it, and then like a stove adding heat indirectly to try to super heat it. _This feels right, just like that night._ I opened my eyes and saw a small mass of very rapidly spinning water around my left hand and could feel the heat coming off of it. " **GEYSER BLADE**!" I shouted out as I release the jutsu and a small two or three foot drill like blade extended from my hand as I made a slashing motion.

"Hn!" One of the elders scoffed, "something that small couldn't have defeated a chunin Rock Armor jutsu." They turned, and walked off, leaving both my Dad and myself there in the empty field. As Fugaku was lead away by his father, he tried to shoot me a look of either pity or concern or something. My eyes blurred as the iron gate slammed behind the elders, blocking them from my view.

Shaking, I slowly sank to my knees, trying to fight back tears. "That's what I used, and it can defeat Rooock-" _sniffle_ , "-armor jutsu." _sniffle_ , "It can. You believe me, right Dad?"

Dad was crouching behind me and just wrapped his arms around me. Then he quietly spoke, "I believe you did, otherwise you wouldn't have been here. You have never told me a lie."

* * *

After an unknown amount of time of just sitting there and Dad hugging me from behind we got up and left the field. _Those stupid fucking old shittie twats can go and sit on a cactus and spin. My jutsu DID kill that ninja, and they WILL see how powerful it is once I perfect it. Then THEY can be apologizing to me. Don't they know basic science? If water is heated and tightly compacted and if you add a slight spin to it it can drill through not only solid stone but metal too. I know at the academy, physical sciences was a bit scarce but I would think with all their experience they would have discovered this. I know it's not flashy but damn._

"Dad, why did they think that my jutsu couldn't hurt someone using Rock Armor jutsu?" I asked looking up at him as we walked back home, "I know Earth usually beats Water but don't they understand if something is compact enough and has enough, umm, force to it that it can punch through just about anything?"

My Dad had this gobsmacked look on his face as if I had just uttered complete nonsense, "I don't know, usually Earth does beat Water, unless the said Water jutsu completely outclasses the Earth jutsu. But you do bring up a good point, I have never thought about it like that," then almost to himself, "punch through just about anything."

Then thinking to myself then wording it outloud, "I want to go visit Iroha, may I? I promise to be home before dark. Please?!" I pleaded with the best puppy-dog eyes I could give.

Dad chuckled then answered, "Go, have fun."

* * *

As I ran off I had a lot on my mind and wanted to run some things past my friends. _I hope Iroha is home or I can find Kushina._ Looking around as I sped across the rooftops of the village proper I glanced around and tried to spread out my chakra senses to see if I could feel my friends anywhere nearby. Thankfully I felt Kushina and what I think is Minato sitting next a small food cart that was selling cheap raman. _Soo salty, I used to love those way back when but for some reason this time around I am not much of a fan. Guess that shows that just because my mind says one thing biology dictates more._ Feeling the chakra levels of the multiple civilians around. _God, I am lucky… what would have happened if I was born in the body of a civilian with how much chakra I have now I would have probably overloaded that poor body._ I shuddered at that thought.

I jumped down and walked over slowly waving, "Hey, you two. You busy? I figured out how to do that jutsu from that night." I eagerly anticipated their response. "Just had a long morning in front of" I paused and looked around quickly, "my asshole elders, who claimed it is a waste of a jutsu and could not harm someone of those calibur."

"Dattebane?! Those jerks, yeah! Lets go right after I finish these bowls of raman," Kushina boisterously stated and Minato look between the two of us then nodded. I could see the determination in his eyes.

"Thank you. Maybe we can run by Iroha's on the way, and see if she is free as well." I said as I blushed with appreciation.

"I agree with Kushina," Minato said then lifted his small bowl of raman and finished it with one last gulp. He got up and walked a short distance and handed the empty bowl to the man at the cart before coming back.

A few minutes later, after Kushina finished her three bowls and Minato had taken them back to the vendor, we made our way to the Hyūga district. I nodded at the two gate guards, "Hello One and Two," I said with a straight face trying to show NO EMOTION but then bust out laughing, "Hehehehehe, can we come in and see Iroha?"

Two frowned and then said, with all seriousness, "I am not Two. You should know by now that I am… Three."

 _Wow, this one has humor, I must be rubbing off on them._ One elbowed Three in the side, before standing aside for the gate to swing open. "You may enter."

As the gate closed behind us, I let my face drop the super serious look and started a giggling fit. "Hehe, ha ha, I never thought a Hyūga would actually crack a joke like that. Both Iroha and I have been calling those two that since...well, ever."

Minato just shook his head but Kushina cracked an evil smile, "Whatever you say, number Two."

At this, all three of us had hysterical giggling fits while we walked to Iroha's place. As we rounded the corner, we saw Iroha's dad and Iroha in battle stances; instinctively I activated my Sharingan just in time to watch a beautiful display that was over in seconds. _If I hadn't had my Sharingan active, I probably wouldn't have caught all that. Damn, 64 point strike, he is not holding back. Iroha at least got a few hits in, think I counted them at 16 before she crumpled._ Shaking my head, I quickly deactivated my Sharingan and rushed over to the edge of their training circle.

"You okay, Iroha?" Kushina asked kneeling down at the edge of circle.

"Yes," She answered rubbing her shoulder and slowly getting up, "or I will be once Dad unseals the tenketsu."

Her father slowly walked over and within a blink of an eye re-opened the closed tenketsu. "It is good to see you Kamiko Uchiha, Kushina Uzumaki, and Minato Namikaze. Iroha has a hour left in practice, then she is free to do as she pleases." he said nodding at each of us in turn. "As long as you stay quiet enough to not distract her, you are welcome to stay." He then turned his white eyes upon me, with a slight frown on his face. "Kamiko Uchiha, as per clan laws, DO NOT activate your Sharingan while here again. These are Hyūga clan techniques, and not only that, they would be useless to anyone that does not possess the Byakugan."

"I am extremely sorry, a bit of a habit when I see a fight so I can understand what is happening. It will not happen again." I apologized with a small bow and stayed bowed.

"Thank you. I understand the habit, I have worked with a few Uchiha in the past." he said before turning back to the training circle.

With Kushina and Minato in tow, I made my way to a small bench near the edge of the circle closest to their house and sat down. _Watching Iroha and her dad spar is quite enlightening. They are so graceful but those light taps are so debilitating. I thought Iroha was good but when I see her next to him it is clear that she has a lot to learn, let alone me. Iroha beats me more than half the time and if he can not only avoid her blows by either deflection or pure avoidance… damn! Guess that's why he is a Jounin and we are still green as a leaf Genin. While he said not to activate my Sharingan doesn't mean I can't study what they are doing._ I thought grinning.

"What are you grinning about, Dattebane?" Kushina said looking at me as Minato had this glassy stare at the fight in front of us.

"Nothing much," I continued to grin, "just that even without the Sharingan I have been a quick study. You know I have never solely relied on it."

We continued to watch the amazing one-sided spar for the next little over an hour at which time it was about lunch time. Iroha scored a few good blows but in the end it was of course obvious who was more experienced.

As we left the compound towards the shopping district for some lunch I asked, "So...umm… Do you ever feel that your spars are ever one-sided or that he is venting through you?" Then quickly added, "Not that I saw that today...just...umm…" I looked down at my feet as we walk, "I just got put through the ringer by _my esteemed Clan Elders_ about my Jutsu."

It was quiet for a good few seconds, but it felt longer. Iroha then spoke up, "It has never felt that way to me. There has been times when he was ruthless about the training but never was it him venting through me. I am sorry that…" Then she whispers just loud enough for only us to hear. "Your chauvinistic clan elders are short sided." Then she raised her voice to normal levels, "but you were amazing that night."

"Yeah, DATTEBANE!" Kushina shouted making a few people passing by stare but I didn't care.

"You were a true ninja of the leaf in my book" Minato added.

"So before this gets any mushy-er, where do we wanna eat?" I asked. _These are true friends better than any I had in my previous life. I mean we risked life and limb.. Literally to save Kushina._

"How about that Raman cart?" Kushina proffered up as a suggestion.

"How about that new Akimichi BBQ place?" Minato offered up.

"Personally the all you can eat sounds good." I said.

As Iroha responded, "Ribs sound great."

* * *

After lunch we wandered around the shopping district just chatting idly about just about anything that popped into our heads until I saw a new weapon shop that I hadn't seen before. "How about we check out that place? I need some better kunai. Maybe a short blade and I could get Dad to training me with it. How about you all?"

"Sounds good to me I could use some more kunai." Minato said shrugging.

Both Kushina and Iroha shrug. "Might as well." Iroha added.

As we entered the store it was quickly obvious that this smith had some interesting ideas on kunai. They had some oddly shaped blades for them and one had Minato in a trance.

"What has you so googie eyed?" I asked walking up while I had some heavier than normal kunai but shaped normally.

He just held up a three pronged kunai for me to see. "Hmm looks interesting." Kushina commented as she looked over my shoulder.

"Definitely unique," I said, "hmm now to see their stock of short blades."

The store clerk had only acknowledged us entering by a head nod but when I said short blades his eyes lit up and he asked, "What type of short blade? Curved? Straight? Light? Weighted? What type of material? Steel or Chakra Steel? How much is your budget?" the stream of questions kept on coming as he quickly left the counter and was almost up in face.

"Umm… I don't know but let's start with straight preferably, and actually I would like a little heft to it. If nothing else, to build up some strength. Also, what is chakra steel?" I answer staring at him and sizing him up a little. _Damn this kid is build like a brick house, definitely not an Akimichi but the muscles on him… Definitely a Ninja with that headband and only a few years older than us._

"Chakra Steel is for those who know how to channel their elemental affinity into a blade and it enhances the strikes with that element. Wind increases the sharpness of the blade so that it can pierce or slice though things easier. Lightning also increase the cutting power like Wind but it also can induce numbness on a target. Earth makes the blade harder and so it is harder to break and also adds more weight to it so hits harder but more bluntly. Fire engulfs the blade in an intense localised flame which incinerates anything it comes in contact with. Water I have never seen used, but I would think it would work like wind." He spoke in a mile a minute pace. "It also greatly increases the cost of the blade as the mineral is rare here in the Fire Lands as well as harder to work."

"Wow, that's a lot to take in, and I think I missed most of that except that it costs more." I said taking a step back, "Well, show me some standard blades of the straight kind, please."

He then guides me over to several racks of blades of various lengths. About fifteen minutes later, and having picked up several dozen blades, I settled on a nice two foot long blade with a nice one handed handle. I also opted for a blade that was not Chakra Steel as it would triple the cost. But nevertheless, I made up my mind to save up for one. _This blew my budget that Mom gave me for equipment for a long time as well as what I had saved up and she probably won't be happy that I spent so much but Dad will be happy to teach me how to use a blade._

As we left with our new purchases in our arms and the sword on my back in a nice back holster I had bought from them as well, I looked up and it was already becoming early evening. "I got to go home but see you all tomorrow at training?" then sheepishly added, "Sorry Kushina, but maybe tomorrow evening after everything we can hang?"

"No problem I am meeting with the Hokage tomorrow so going to be super busy, DATTEBANE!" she shouted with one fist punched up into the air.

"Well, later then." both Minato and Iroha responded right after each other.

* * *

When I got home Mom was in the kitchen preparing dinner, Obi was on the living room floor with the blocks and Dad was sitting on the couch reading a scroll while watching over Obi.

"I am home," I announced as I opened the door, "Hi, Obi and Dad, I am glad to be home. I got a few items while I was out." I sat down next to Dad and showed him my purchases, "Sorry I blew my budget for a while, but look at this sword I got. It's not as nice as yours but could you teach me some basic Kenjutsu?"

Dad quietly looked over the blade with a very keen eye, he then answered me, "Of course Kiddo, but you better hide that from your mother or she might have both of our hides." he chuckled at that. I quickly got up and rushed it off my bedroom then came back.

* * *

The next day, I woke up before the sun had started to peek over the horizon and took a quick shower. Just as I strapped on my kunai pouches, the first day birds began to herald the dawn. I tightened my kunai straps and my eyes fell on my new sword, propped up against the closet. _Should I bring that even though it would be little more than a club in my hands? Might as well, maybe Sensei might know a few things about kenjutsu._ I quickly strapped the new sword to my back, feeling slightly awkward with the weight of it. _I will definitely need to get used to wearing this if I am going to fight with it._

I quietly left my bedroom and made my way to the kitchen to grab an apple and a bun for breakfast, but Mom was there. I was like a deer in headlights as she turned to me and saw the blade on my back. Her face went from very pleasant to _explain this NOW!_ expression. "Umm, yesterday I went by a weapon shop and umm… I got some new things and this was one of them. The boy at the shop told me to wear it so I would get used to the weight of it while I learn how to use it."

She spoke with such a calm sweet voice that I knew I was in trouble, "And how much did you spend?"

 _I must not tell lies, anyway Mom and Dad have always been able to tell when I wasn't telling them the truth._ "Okay, don't be mad. I spent about five months of spending money I had saved up" I held up my hands to placate her as I quickly added, "and he gave me a great deal as it was my first blade and I bought so much."

She pressed her lips together and was quiet for a good while. Then slowly responded, "Ooo-kay, I guess you are old enough to have a weapon like that, but. BUT, next time ask either your Father or myself before making a large purchase like that. Now, off with you." She handed me a small bag of food, still frowning slightly. I made sure to give her a hug before running out the door.

I quickly made my way to our training field as the sun fully rose, and while I waited for them to show up, I went back to training my chakra sensing on the rock. _Oh, thank God. My chakra's fully replenished after all that crap the Clan Elders put me through._ Even though my eyes were closed, I could feel every step that Iroha took on the field in my chakra. She quietly stepped off to the side and sat down nearby. The quiet morning stretched between us.

"What are you doing? I have never seen you so still."

"I am trying to work on my chakra sensing," I answered, still not opening my eyes. "When I was younger, I was able to feel the chakra around me quite easily, but I have lost the knack for it. I asked my Dad about it, and he gave me a book."

"Hmm, that sounds intriguing. With my Bakugan, I can see chakra in people. But to feel chakra sounds... odd. Although, I can see the benefits of that skill if we were not near each other."

She joined me in my quiet meditation. The sun was warm and the slight wind made a calming sound as it swept through the field.

About twenty minutes later, both Jiraiya and Minato walked into the field, chatting. Iroha and I both opened our eyes and stood up. Jiraiya-sensei had with him three fairly large scrolls. I almost winced. _Damn I can feel the ambient chakra on those things, they're like freaking beacons._ I cleared my throat and spoke up; "Ummm, Sensei what are those? I can tell they are not jutsu scrolls as I can feel the chakra radiating off them."

He was taken aback a bit by that, but it was barely noticeable. Clearing his throat, he replied, "These are to test your chakra affinities. That way, I can tailor your training appropriately."

"Sensei," Iroha spoke up, "Kamiko and I know our affinities. Her Father tested us while we were in the academy. I am Wind and Yang. She had both Fire and Water."

Again, Jiraiya was taken aback for a split second. He then spoke up, "That is all well and good, but these scrolls are way more precise than the normal chakra paper. Me and my ol' teammate Orochimaru worked on the Fuinjutsu that is on these scrolls." He said grinning then added, "These were a team effort of my ol' Genin team. Now gather around and I will explain what you all need to do."

We grouped up and sat down in front of him. "Now these scrolls use not only a drop of your blood but you will pour in about as much chakra as you would a replacement jutsu," he explained as he unrolled one of the scrolls, "Here is where you will place a drop of blood in this little circle in the center. Then, here is the hand outline where you will channel your chakra. Now I must impress the importance of doing the two steps quickly otherwise the scroll is wasted. You will have no more than maybe thirty seconds at most. The rest of this is fairly complex Fuinjutsu and it would take too long to explain it to neophytes like yourselves. Okay, then let's start with you, Minato," he ordered as he handed Minato a small needle and motioned for him to go.

Minato went through the motions that was explained to us, and after he poured his chakra into it, a series of symbols and numbers appeared in a circle near the top of the scroll. "Hmm, interesting." Sensei muttered, "Well, let's see how the rest of you do before I make the announcement. Your turn, Iroha." he said rolling out another large scroll in front of her.

Iroha did the same as Minato did and just like him a series of symbols and numbers appeared in the circle near the top. "Now you, Kamiko." he quickly said rolling out the third and final scroll.

I took a deep breath and followed his instructions, _Step one, prick finger and place a drop of blood in the center of scroll. Step two, place hand on spot. Step three, pour chakra into the scroll. Step four, sell my soul to the devil...ha. No, seriously, these steps are like straight out of a fantasy book or something. Buuuut I have seen some strange stuff here, and I am supposed to trust Sensei. So, here I go._ I then poured the required chakra into the scroll, and a few seconds later a symbol appeared in the circle with an equal sign and another symbol and numbers after that. "That is interesting, very interesting." he spoke out glancing over my results. "Well, let's start with Minato here. You have a very strong Wind affinity and probably going to be rather strong with it. You also have two minor affinities with both Fire and Lightning but they are rather minor especially now." He then turned to Iroha. "You have a very strong Yang affinity and a slightly stronger Wind affinity. You and Minato will be hard to train in Wind as very few in Leaf get Wind as an affinity so we will have to work from the ground up on that."

"What about Kami?" Iroha asked politely but also curiously as Minato nodded.

"Well, hers is very interesting. I have never seen it do this before but if we built this scroll right… and I know we did, Kamiko has a blended affinity of both Fire and Water. Not so sure what that equates out to but I would think she would be able to learn any Fire or Water jutsu." Jiraiya spoke slowly.

At this I closed my eyes for a second then spoke up, "Yesterday my clan elders had me try to repeat the jutsu I did that other night and I even though I did repeat it, they said it wasn't what it was and that it wasn't worth their time. Do you wish for me to replicate it for you now?" I pleadingly looked up at him. "Please, I know I can do this."

"I think that would be smart. I'll be able to get a proper look at it, and be able to tell what you did." Sensei said with a bit of seriousness I had not heard from him yet, "I am also curious as to the jutsu itself."

I got up, activating my Sharingan and walked over towards the boulder that sat near the center of the field. Then, as if Jiraiya was reading my mind, he said, "Don't use the boulder as a target just yet. Let me give you a target." He made a hand sign I hadn't seen before - it looked like a cross with two fingers from each hand. _The chakra coming off him is acting really weird. I have never seen chakra act that way._ About that time he finished channeling, he shouted out, " **Shadow Clone Jutsu** " and I took a step back as a very solid clone appeared next to him. _If it wasn't for my Sharingan, I would not have been able to tell that it...he… that thing next to him wasn't a illusion. Also, what did my eyes do when he used that. It felt odd like I was completely understanding what was going on. Probably should ask Dad later._

"Okay, I want you to hit my clone with your technique." Jiraiya stated, then quickly added as Iroha was about to speak up, "This is a solid clone so you actually have something physical to hit. Also don't worry about it being me." The clone then did a transformation jutsu to appear like the Iro-nin that I faced that night. Jiraiya smirked as his clone moved to be in front of me, the Iro-nin's face mirroring that smirk. "I think this will help with your visualization of the jutsu."

 _Okay, you got this down now. Just do it._ I quickly went through the motions of gathering, condensing, adding the drilling motion, then the most critical part heat… and lots of it. " **Geyser Blade** " I shouted as I did a slicing motion. His clone tried to block with a kunai, and steel met water briefly before the Geyser Blade sliced through the blade and into the clone's shoulder. Iro-nin went "POOF" and Jiraiya shook his head briefly as I turned to face him.

"That was powerful, I bet your Clan Elders were quite pleased with it." Jiraiya commented. Then added when he saw the looks on my face and my teammates. "They didn't?" He then let out a long sigh, "Of course they didn't, short-sighted fire clan people. If it isn't flashy, they just ignore it."

I grimaced at that, but then nodded, "So what do you think?"

"I think you need to do it again, but this time try to hold the technique, and not dispel it after it hits. Try to keep it there as long as you can." Jiraiya commanded. "I wish to look at it closely while its active."

For the next few minutes, I used my technique a few times, each time I was able to hold it a little bit longer and by the end I was able to hold it for a solid minute before it fizzled out. I slumped down and rested my back against the boulder, panting heavily. "Is… that… enough… for… you…? I am… exhausted… after… that."

Sensei nodded, "I got an idea of what you are doing. It looks like your elements are combining in a way to create superheated water, turning it almost to vapor, but you are able to keep it from entering that state, so it not only burns the target but pierces. Ingenious!" Then, almost to himself, "This is something new that no one has seen before, or at least lived to tell about it."

"Well, I think it's an amazing technique," Minato commented sagely, "I like how you had this like spin to it… almost like a drill."

"Those old geezers don't know what they are talking about," Iroha said, "look at my clan's techniques. It's nothing flashy but it's extremely deadly. If not debilitating."

"I agree with both of their assessments, Kamiko." Sensei stated, "This is at least a high C-ranked offensive jutsu maybe even a low B-rank, very deadly. I am going to have to ask you to not use it in any spars with teammates, or with other Leaf-nin unless I give you explicit permission." He then motioned for everyone to gather around. "Up until this point you have been able to perform D-rank or lower jutsu that you learned in the Academy. With the exception of maybe some clan techniques that might be higher. But jutsu like this one can do way more harm than a punch or a kick so please do be careful when using them. To defend oneself or others, restrictions like the one I just put on Kamiko's technique are of course lifted, but do tread lightly when using them. Remember, she sliced the top of that ninja's head off so…" he let that thought trail off for us to think on.

"YES, SENSEI." we all shouted in near unison.

"Well then, I think we are going to do some more spars till mid afternoon, then I am going to dismiss you all for the day." Jiraiya said, "I will make a small list of some techniques I know that works for each of your elements for you to practice on your own time while you spar."

For the next few hours we did taijutsu spars, I was really low on chakra so thankfully no jutsu. Right before he dismissed us for the day he handed each of us a small scroll with permission to get two jutsu of our respective elements of C-rank or lower from the Konoha Research Library in the Hokage's Tower. He pulled me aside after he dismissed us. "Kamiko, your scroll only allows one jutsu of each element, and I would highly recommend with the Water jutsu to pick up a supplementary jutsu, as they can be very useful."

"Sensei, I got a question for you." I asked after nodding, "Do you know anything about Kenjutsu or what was it that boy called it again, um...oh, right, Chakra channeling?"

"I do know a little about Kenjutsu, but I am in no way an expert. I normally do taijutsu or use a technique. Now, Chakra channeling is a tough thing to master, but I do know how. I see you bought yourself a sword yesterday, I expect it's not made of Chakra Steel so learning to chakra channel will be harder to do with it, but we can cover that in the coming months. Now off with you." he said shooing me off.

 _I guess I will try to catch up with Iroha and Minato. I wonder what type of techniques we can get._ At a flat run, I was able to catch them up, and we chatted all the way to the Hokage Tower.

 **Author Notes: I am sorry that this chapter took so long to get out. I was struggling with some of the scenes and had to seriously contemplate what I wanted to do with them. Also for those who have wondered, when I died in this world and was reborn into the world of Naruto the show had not yet been aired so I have zero foreknowledge and I am trying to write it like that. This has been one of my greatest challenges but I am glad I did it. I am glad you all are enjoying my story and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I also wish to continue to give thanks to** **frodoschick** **and** **Halbyrd** **on co-writing without them this story wouldn't be as well written as it is. If you liked it or had any question either put in a Review or PM me. Until next time.**


End file.
